The purpose of this study was to examine how institutions of higher education were responding to unprecedented state involvement in campus safety planning and policymaking in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Focused on Ohio, a state in which a state-level task force was convened and charged to promulgate campus safety recommendations for campuses, the study surveyed chief campus safety officers at Ohio's public and private institutions. An instrument was designed to capture respondents' awareness of Ohio's campus safety initiatives, respondents' perceptions of the Ohio Task Force's recommendations, and the level of institutional implementation as it related to the Task Force's recommended campus safety activities or policies. To determine whether awareness, perceptions, or implementation of state-level campus safety initiatives were dependent on institutional factors, such variables were considered across several institutional factors including size, location, type, control, student residency, and organizational structure.;Univariate analysis determined that respondents from demographically diverse institutions portrayed similar levels of implementation, awareness, and perceptions of state campus safety initiatives. A correlational analysis revealed statistically significant positive correlation between perceptions of campus safety recommendations and awareness of state campus safety initiatives.;Descriptive statistical analysis revealed that perceptions of state involvement in campus safety policymaking and planning were viewed positively, as Ohio's initiatives were frequently viewed as comprehensive, helpful, and appropriate. State campus safety initiatives had moderate to strong influence on institutional campus safety policy implementation in many instances.;Such a positive response is likely attributable to the approaches of the change-agent (i.e. Ohio's Task Force/Ohio Board of Regents) including broad dissemination of campus safety recommendations, opportunity for institutional input and empowerment, and the absence of formal mandates. Overall, a shifting emphasis from reactive and insular approaches to campus safety in favor of proactive and collaborative approaches was revealed in the post-Virginia Tech environment.;Implications highlighted the necessity for continuity of state-level involvement in the realm of campus safety planning and policymaking, state-campus relationship building, meticulous campus safety planning, extensive training and consultation, and heightened willingness toward interdisciplinary collaboration.
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