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Canyon College
Canyon College
COURSE SYLLABUS: EDU521 - Security for Colleges and Universities

Course Title: EDU521 - Security for Colleges and Universities
Department: School of Education
Instructor: Ed Piper, MS, BA, AA E-Mail - Vita
Credits: 4 Postgraduate Semester Credits
Tuition: $300
Note: Read about the EDU524 School Security Certificate Program


Course Description

This introductory course provides administrators, faculty, staff, students, and practitioners with a basic understanding of security principles for colleges and universities. It also examines federal legislation and civil law case pertaining to colleges and universities. It also reviews the recommendations made by a government panel on the lessons learned from Virginia Tech.

Course Objectives
  1. To develop a better understanding of physical security for colleges.
  2. To examine a detailed review of security best practices based on publications created by the American Society for Industrial Security.
  3. To reexamine the physical security practices of your own college/university system and to take positive action to improve your school’s security posture:
Required Texts  Online Bookstore

Campus Security, Situational Crime Prevention in High Density Environment by George F. Rengant, Mark T. Mattson, Kristen Henderson. Criminal Justice Press (2001). ISBN: 18870560814

Campus Security and Crime Prevention by American Society of Industrial Security (1999). ISBN: 1887056084

Websites or PDF Files to read

Mass Shootings at Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007, Report of Review Panel to Governor Kaine, Commonwealth of Virginia, Chapter 2 University Setting and Security. Click HERE to view the report.

Written Assignments

This course requires extensive reading of two publications on college security and one government report. For that reason, assignments will be limited to answering weekly questions and emailing your responses to the instructor at the end of each week. Your responses must include page numbers from the text that support your answer. The responses each week are usually a series of ten questions valued at 1 point each.

2 points will be subtracted for each incident of: sloppiness, poor grammar, poor spelling and poor punctuation. Late papers receive a grade of zero.

There is also a requirement to prepare and submit a 5 page double spaced paper on the Clery Act and FERPA. Visit the U.S. Department of Education Website and discuss the impact of these two laws since the Virginia Tech tragedy. This paper is worth 20 points. It will be submitted to the instructor during Week 10.

Total For Course: 120 Points

I will determine your final grade based on the total number of points you have accumulated at the end of the semester. I do not award letter grades for each paper or exam. Your grade will be determined as follows:

105-120 pointsA
80-104 pointsB
60-79 pointsC
50-59 pointsD
below 50 pointsF


Student Assignments/Activities

Assignments: Read the assigned readings and email your answers to the instructor each week.

Week 1: Read Campus Security, Situational Crime Prevention in High Density Environment. George F. Rengant, Mark T. Mattson, Kristen Henderson,

Q1 What is the Clery Act?
Q2 What are the issues involving on campus and off campus crime?
Q3 Define the crimongenic aspects of a campus community.
Q4 Who are the criminal targets on a campus community?
Q5 Is there a correlation between the wealth of students and crime?
Q6 Discuss the relationship between the physical location of the campus and crime on campus.
Q7 What is Perason Tolby’s 3rd risk factor?
Q8 Is there a relationship between the number of security personnel and campus victimization?
Q9 What changes in society created the need to professionalize campus security-briefly describe the stages?
Q10 Describe the requirement mentioned in Peterson v San Francisco Community District?

Week 2: Read Campus Security, Situational Crime Prevention in High Density Environment. George F. Rengant, Mark T. Mattson, Kristen Henderson,

Q11 Is hiring local police officers the best solution to campus law enforcement?
Q12 What is CPTED?
Q13 Explain the basic concept of COMPSTAT.
Q14 Did the police kiosk strategy work at Temple University? How can you tell?
Q15What type of campus is Temple? How much time do the students stay on campus? Does this effect the crime rate?
Q16 What is the major difference between the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University/
Q17Where was crime most likely to occur at Gladfeller Hall?
Q18. What is the benefit of plotting crime on the Gladfeller Hall footprint?
Q19. What is the design feature of Gladfeller Hall that creates a vulnerable environment?
Q20. What are the design features of Gladfeller Hall 10th floor that make it less vulnerable to crime?

Week 3: Read Campus Security, Situational Crime Prevention in High Density Environment. George F. Rengant, Mark T. Mattson, Kristen Henderson,

Q21 Describe the benefits of pre and post hot spot intervention.
Q22 What are the benefits of administering victimization surveys on college campuses?
Q23: How can comparing victimization survey data to reported incident data help campuses design more effective crime prevention strategies?
Q24 What are the benefits of follow up surveys?
Q25 Describe Temple University’s crime prevention strategy for reducing assaults on campus.
Q26 How did you feel about Temple University’s decision to allow students to plot their perceptions of safe campus locations on campus?
Q27 Why does Temple have a lower crime rate than many other universities?
Q28 How are campus police similar to housing police?
Q29 ** Now start reading Campus Security and Crime Prevention-According to the Protection of Assets Manual what information is critical to designing an effective security program?
Q30: Why is it important to consider the history of a university when conducting an assessment?

Week 4: Continue reading Campus Security and Crime Prevention-

Q31 What are the 4 stages of a security survey?
Q32 What are some of the elements of loss prevention recommendations?
Q33 Why do losses occur?
Q34 What is risk assessment?
Q35 Define risk analysis.
Q36 Define criticality.
Q37 Define probability.
Q38 What is risk avoidance?
Q39 What is risk spreading?
Q40 What is risk transfer?

Week 5: Continue reading Campus Security and Crime Prevention

Q41 What is risk acceptance?
Q42 What is cost effective risk management?
Q43 Why should a college have an office of risk management?
Q44 How would you implement an office of risk management?
Q45 Which of Robert Nielson’s activities would help you with risk management at your college?
Q46 What is the Campus Security Act?
Q47 What must be reported in the Campus Security Act?
Q48 Which information will be available to the public?
Q49 How should criminal acts be reported?
Q50 Which policies need to be developed to comply with the Campus Security Act?

Week 6: Continue reading Campus Security and Crime Prevention

Q 51 How would you apply Exhibit 2 to your college?
Q52 Do you agree with the elements of Exhibit 3?
Q53 Are the recommendations of Exhibit 4 practical for your college?
Q54 What was the biggest surprise you noted in the Towson University survey?
Q55 How can campuses deal effectively with the problem of date rape?
Q56 Write a paragraph challenging the final decision of Klobueler v Perdue University.
Q57 What was the criteria for overruling the original decision of Delaney v University of Houston?
Q58 What was the major surprise of Nola M v the University of Southern California?
Q59 What are the responsibilities of a person writing a letter for a person seeking a position in higher education?
Q60 What are the 3 parts of a loss prevention survey?

Week 7: Continue reading Campus Security and Crime Prevention

Q61 What are audit test standards?
Q62 Why are security awareness programs so important?
Q63 What is ANSI?
Q64 What is the main criteria for locking hardware?
Q65 Does your college have any of the type of locks specified in Exhibit 1 page 48?
Q66 What are some of the concerns about electronic locks?
Q67 What are some of the benefits of electronic access systems?
Q68 How do we implement a modern key system?
Q69 How do we avoid liability with access control?
Q70 Should there be a full time position for a Manager of Key Systems and Security Hardware at all colleges? Why or why not?

Week 8: Continue reading Campus Security and Crime Prevention

Q71 Why review the administrative offices of a college book store?
Q72 What should we examine in the cash service area?
Q73 What should we examine in the customer venue area?
Q74 What type pf training should we provide bookstore staff?
Q75 What should we look for in support locations?
Q76 Do gangs operate on college campuses today?
Q77 What part of the Gang Awareness Continuum best describes your college?
Q78 What type of gang awareness training should take place on college campuses today?
Q79 Conduct a GOOGEL search for any example of a gang presence on a college campus. Was it tied into shooting/?
Q80 Which gangs operate in your area?

Week 9: Read, Mass Shootings at Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007, Report of Review Panel to Governor Kaine, Commonwealth of Virginia, Chapter 2 University Setting and Security. Click HERE to view the report.

Q81 Did VA Tech campus police have enough security officers to handle an emergency situation by themselves?
Q82 What impact did the mission statement of VA Tech campus police have on the shooting situation?
Q83 Were there any guards or cameras at the exterior to the campus buildings?
Q84 How would VA campus police people in buildings during a campus emergency?
Q85 If the April 16, 2007 incident had not occurred would campus security have been an issue?
Q86 What was the capability of VA Tech to distribute emergency emails?
Q87 Describe the total emergency communications capabilities of VA Tech. Were PDA’s included?
Q88 Who had the codes for sending emergency messages and did it cause a problem?
Q89 How old was the emergency management plan?
Q90 Was locking down VA Tech a viable option?

Week 10: Continue Reading, Mass Shootings at Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007, Report of Review Panel to Governor Kaine, Commonwealth of Virginia, Chapter 2 University Setting and Security. Click HERE to view the report.

Q91 What is the advantage of having a siren on campus?
Q92 How many shooting take place on campuses each year?
Q93 Did the Report recommend that a risk assessment be performed? Why?
Q94 Was the VA Tech Police Dept. trained on active shooter scenarios?
Q95 Who should be on a threat assessment team?
Q96 What does the Clery Act require in dangerous situations?
Q97 What needs to be included in emergency messages?
Q98 Who should Campus Police report to in an emergency?
Q99 What should be the mission statement of a campus police department?
Q100 Why should campus police be included in the education process?

** There is also a requirement to prepare and submit a 5 page double spaced paper on the Clery Act and FERPA. Visit the U.S. Department of Education Website and discuss the impact of these two laws since the Virginia Tech tragedy. This paper is worth 20 points. It will be submitted to the instructor during Week 10.

About Your Instructor:

Ed Piper has over 30 years of experience in school security, law enforcement, security, education, training and consulting. He designed the first college credit course in terrorism in Washington D.C. back in 1984 and has taught security at George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University (active), Webster University Graduate School, Norwich University and a number of other colleges. He has served as Chief of Safety and Security for Harford Community College; Supervisor of School Security for Anne Arundel County Public Schools and is currently Director of Security and Emergency Planning at the Georgetown University Law Center. He has also served on the Maryland Governor’s Advisory Team for School Security. He also serves as President and CEO of Homeland Security Consultants, Inc.