The university needs to operate in an integrated and holistic manner, rather than in a disjointed and episodic one. In particular, it needs to coordinate its academic and nonacademic and short-term, medium-term and long-term behaviors more effectively. Specific recommendations at each level include:

• I. Short Term (Response to Specific Events)
  
• II. Medium Term (Ongoing Programming)
  
• III. Long Term (Looking Towards The Future)

I. Short Term (Response to Specific Events)

• Improve information flow so that all levels and constituencies of the university are instantly aware of university response and feel consulted in the process of response information. The creative use of e-mail and institutional Web sites is an excellent tool.

• A "community-watch" system could be put in place so that staff, faculty and students in potential target sites could be trained to contact campus police if they see suspicious individuals and/or activities. The result would be twofold. It serves to build community on campus as well as producing more effective law enforcement.

• Campus police need to continually reassert their security monopoly on campus. Private off-campus groups (extremist groups in particular) should not be allowed to provide security when their representatives are invited to speak on campus. This must be stipulated to such groups and speakers in advance of and as a condition of their appearance on campus.

• A university's rapid-response group should be established and so organized that it can meet and act immediately during a crisis. When a response is delayed (as is often the case in academe), the efficacy of the response is compromised. A delayed reaction can, at times, do more harm than good.

• When and where it is appropriate, timely announcements of concern/outrage/solidarity should be issued in the name of the president. If this is not feasible, the university's highest-ranking appropriate administrator should issue such statements. These statements must be widely and immediately circulated to all university constituencies. This will demonstrate that the administration is on top of a situation and that it is exercising effective leadership. The university must position itself to be ahead of and never behind the curve of breaking events.

II. Medium Term (Ongoing Programming)

• Introduce anti-bias education programs such as the Anti-Defamation League's A CAMPUS OF DIFFERENCE™ training programs and periodic seminars.

• Seek to develop both formal and informal mechanisms for improving communications and coordination between student affairs professionals and the faculty. The various college deans and the provost's office can play a crucial mediating role in this regard.

• The perception and reality of institutional responsiveness is improved when clear (or at least less confusing) lines of administrative authority are delineated and communicated to the university's diverse constituencies. University community members need to know where they can go to address specific problems and concerns. The appointment of a central university ombudsman who can act as something of a "traffic cop," guiding students and others through the bureaucratic maze should be considered.

• Diversity-oriented university programs should be designed to be as inclusive as possible. In particular, white males and others without minority or "protected" status should not be made to feel excluded and unwelcome at the support centers and in diversity programming. Such feelings may result as much from unintentional signals as from specific actions on the part of university administrators, staff or faculty. Diversity programming should have a broad educational function for the entire community as well as the goals of enhancing self-esteem and empowerment among selected subgroups.

• Provide programs that encourage the development of new courses, innovative teaching methods, team teaching, etc. among the faculty so as to provide for greater diversity within the curriculum. Faculty fellowships, providing summer stipends or limited release time for the development of innovative course offerings are one way in which the university can encourage such trends.

III. Long Term (Looking Towards The Future)

• The president and other top-level administrators need to work continuously on developing their leadership and "authority-legitimacy" roles. While effective management is necessary at the administrative level, it is not sufficient in the climate of today's complex higher educational institutions. Arguably, the major task at this level is the definition, articulation and communication of the moral center of the university and the values for which it stands. This is a constant, ongoing task that, if successful, will reward the university in good times and preserve its balance and public image in times of difficulty.

• As the university, led by its president and administrative cadre, defines its values, it must seek to formulate a positive, as opposed to a negative, code of conduct. A positive code embraces those behaviors and beliefs that the university will value and reward. This is distinctly different from the recent trend among many universities, defining those behaviors and beliefs that are to be punished. Similarly, the university must seek to go beyond the mere celebration of diversity, which may be viewed as fleeting and peripheral, and find ways in which it can become a structurally and functionally more intrinsically diverse institution.

• The university can only become more intrinsically diverse in its core educational mission by taking a new look at the incentive structure it presents to its faculty. While ongoing research and the generation of outside grants will continue to be important, faculty must be given positive incentives to improve and broaden their undergraduate teaching and their commitment to community service. At present, many faculty feel that they are not rewarded for investing time and effort in these areas and argue that they may even be punished for doing so if there is a perceived cost in diminished scholarly and grantsmanship output. In short, the university needs a broader, more pluralistic working definition of faculty excellence.

Next: Programs to Help Prevent Hate Crimes and Intergroup Conflict