ABSTRACT
Campus events require that presidential leadership is strong and unwavering in the best of times, but the qualities of leadership are tested during a crisis. Presidents and chancellors, along with their leadership teams, have had to respond to natural disasters, such as floods and tornadoes, as well as to human-made crises, such as riots, accidents, challenges to academic freedom, data security breaches, and illegal activities. The national news has documented mass shootings, dormitory fires that have claimed lives, and athletic scandals that have severely challenged leaders in higher education. In recent years, higher education has been rocked by accusations related to staff in athletics at the Pennsylvania State University, University of Arkansas, and Syracuse University. After a 10-month investigation, Sports Illustrated (Dohrmann & Evans, 2013) exposed potential infractions at Oklahoma State University from 1999 to 2011 that included payments to student athletes, academic dishonesty, and sexual favors to lure recruits. The death of a band member at Florida A&M University prompted every campus to review potential hazing within campus organizations and to ensure that their policies address the situation and promise serious consequences. It appears that 100-year floods are attracted to college campuses. In January 1995, the University of California, Santa Barbara, closed when rains deluged the coastal area, causing floods and mudslides. In this volume, President Sally Mason documents the devastation of the flooding of the Iowa River on the University of Iowa campus. In September 2013, President Philip DiStefano found himself closing the University of Colorado at Boulder campus, postponing a football game, and facing the high waters of Boulder Creek. The use of pepper spray on students at the University of California, Davis, compelled the chancellor to speak out publicly about the situation and caused staffing changes in the police department. Student deaths, rapes on campus, cheating scandals, and natural disasters all focus attention on a campus—sometimes only for a short time and in other cases for months and sometimes years. In some cases, such as St. Mary’s College of Maryland, unorthodox decisions, such as using a cruise ship for a residence hall, prove to be an ingenious and positive way to address the mold issues in traditional residence halls, yet the president who weathered that crisis found himself in a crisis of a different sort when enrollment declined in subsequent years.
