Before the coronavirus pandemic dominated the news worldwide, the most popular stories among Campus Safety readers were often about topics like Clery Act crimes, threat assessments, crisis management, mental health, campus shootings and other gun-related topics.
For the first five or so months of the pandemic, COVID-19-related articles dominated Campus Safety’s top stories. Now that we are eight months in, previously popular topics are starting to consistently reappear.
This month, articles related to campus shootings were among the most popular, making up three out of the 10. The article with the most pageviews of all 10 was about the firing of the police chief at a Southeast Texas school district after a school resource officer dressed as an intruder during an unannounced safety drill last month.
Perhaps it was the most read due to the absurdity of the situation and the inexcusable lack of planning by the police chief, but perhaps it is because school safety leaders are starting to again direct more attention to the importance of properly planned out and appropriate active shooter drills.
Three coronavirus stories still made the top 10, including articles about how smaller colleges have been able to contain the virus and how proper ventilation can help slow the spread of the virus. We predict coronavirus articles will continue to make the top 10 for the foreseeable future — especially with more and more discussions about a vaccine and its distribution at hospitals and college campuses.
The third installment of our tabletop exercise scenario series also made the top 10, which we were very pleased to see because these trainings bring all stakeholders to the table and truly help campuses test their emergency response skills and plans.
We were also happy to see that the article about CS Healthcare Director of the Year Eric Clay made the top 10 as well. In case you missed it, here’s the link to the article about CS Higher Education Director of the Year Edgar Rodriguez, which made the top 15.
To read all of November’s most popular stories, check out this article’s slideshow.