How Do You Manage? Case Study: Insecurity

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By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 09/01/2007

Marie Grieco, librarian at Ulster College, was having a bad day. The knots in her stomach were slowly untying from an ugly morning incident involving several students when she and coworker Cindy Trainer had been called into the office of Dean Bill Hanrahan.

“I just received a very disturbing call from the dean of students,” Hanrahan said. “Two undergrads visited her office and lodged a complaint against the library. They said they were accosted and verbally abused by another student here this morning and that no one tried to intervene. They said everyone just stood there watching while this other student fired one racial epithet and four-letter word after another at them. Can you tell me what happened? I was away this morning and just got here.”

“Well,” Grieco began nervously, “we were helping several students when we heard shouting coming from the computer area. It happens every so often, and usually it's just a couple of kids horsing around and it's over in a few minutes. But this wasn't fun shouting—this was angry shouting. It took a minute to finish what we were doing; then we went back to see what was happening.

“When we got back there, we saw a male student screaming at two female students. He was calling them the F-word and the N-word and things I never even heard of,” Grieco said.

“Were the two female students screaming back?” Hanrahan asked.

“No,” Trainer said. “They seemed just as scared and shocked as we were.”

“So what did you do?” Hanrahan said.

“I didn't really know what to do,” Grieco said. “You should have seen this kid. He was screaming like a madman. He looked like he wanted to kill somebody. I was afraid he might attack these girls the way he was acting.”

“I ran to call security,” Trainer said.

“The guy looked up at me, grabbed his bag, and stormed out. He was gone by the time security showed up.”

“Did you say anything to him or try to stop him?” Hanrahan said.

“I was scared out of my mind. After Virginia, you think I'm going to get in some crazy kid's face? How was I supposed to know if he had a gun or a knife or something? I'm a librarian, not Dirty Harry.”

“What did the female students do? Hanrahan asked.

“They were pretty shaken,” Grieco said. “One was crying, but the other one looked angry. I told them to wait until security came, but the angry one told the crying one they should leave.”

“Did you at least ask what happened?” said the dean.

“No. I was waiting for security. I asked if they were okay. It was over, and I was still shaking. It was scary, but nothing really happened. No one was hurt; the guy just yelled. I wanted them to wait for the campus police, but they wouldn't do it.”

“You could have at least gotten their names,” Hanrahan said, angry himself now.

“That's security's job. Why don't we have a guard assigned to the library at all times? Next to the gym, it's the largest building on campus, and we should have a guard. Maybe I should have asked the girls' names, but I was scared out of my wits. If the kid had a gun, the janitors would be scrubbing my brains off the wall right now. Why am I being grilled? It's not my job to keep students safe.”

“I know that, but the students complained that the library staff didn't do anything when they were being accosted, and they're screaming about lawyers and that we're all racists. You know how bad that is,” Hanrahan said, frustrated. “I know it's not your fault, but this thing is going to cause a big mess.”

“That's not my problem,” Grieco said. “Maybe I should be talking to a lawyer myself.”

ANALYSIS I: It's an Opportunity

By La Loria Konata, Policy Studies Liaison Librarian, Georgia State University Library, Atlanta

Grieco asks a valid question: Why isn't there security in the library at the entrance/exit at all times? What would happen if someone tried to steal library materials? Similar to the aftermath of September 11, it is perfectly natural for people to be more cautious after the Virginia Tech incident. But this doesn't excuse Grieco's and Trainer's behavior. They did not act immediately. They were helping other students, so it took a minute. If they were that scared, why didn't they call security immediately? It would have been appropriate to tell the students they were assisting that they would be right back and then head to the phone to call security before approaching the student. Once they were in the vicinity of the shouting, they could have reassessed the situation. If they were then too nervous and scared to approach the shouter, they could have at least escorted the two victims out of harm's way to a nearby office. This would have kept them all out of range of the verbally abusive student and potentially avoided a public relations nightmare.

Nonetheless, Hanrahan's response is reactionary and insensitive. Since he didn't ask if they did “XYZ” from the written policy, one has to assume there isn't one. So, instead of belittling his employees because he has a potential mess on his hands, Hanrahan should think of this incident as an opportunity to develop a security policy. Maybe this is the disaster he needs to get funding for full-time security in the library. Also, Hanrahan should have just gotten the facts from Grieco and Trainer, who were obviously still pretty shaken up. To grill employees with “why” questions at this stage is only going to cause a backlash.

Sure, no one wants a PR fiasco, but Hanrahan's first responsibility is to the employees who run the daily operations of the library. He doesn't need an internal rift among the library staff. There could be an even bigger mess if Grieco contacts a lawyer. A lawyer looking for a high-profile case could cause serious turmoil for Hanrahan and damage staff morale if everyone feels the need to be overly cautious about what they say and do. So, Hanrahan should first do damage control by speaking with Grieco to persuade her not to contact a lawyer.

It is still not too late to smooth things over with the two female students. Perhaps they would be interested in serving on an exploratory committee on library security that could urge the university president to provide funding. Grieco and Trainer are also good candidates to be on this committee. When they meet with the college/university president, no one else could speak more passionately about this than those who experienced it firsthand.

Hanrahan should see this as an opportunity to develop advocates for security in the library and not as a public relations mess. This is also an opportunity for the university community to develop a security policy and get intervention training. A campus security policy would lead to more interaction among campus units, which can then better assist security and campus police. If we learn anything from past events such as the incident at Virginia Tech, it should be that security is everyone's concern and obligation. After all, your life may depend on it.

ANALYSIS II: Protect the Students

By John Small, Director of Libraries, Central Academic Affairs, DeVry University, Addison, IL

Dean Hanrahan has a series of problems to deal with here and virtually nothing to go on. Security in the library appears to be nonexistent, relying solely on campus security services and the resultant wait for arrival. Clearly, in a situation like this, Trainer and Grieco should not have attempted to step in and restrain the abusive student, nor should they have attempted to hold him until security arrived.

Their only realistic course of action would have been to do what Trainer did: immediately contact campus security. It is also possible that one or both might have tried physically to get in between the abusive student and the two women, but that is dependent on the distance between them.

Reference librarians should not be expected to take on the role of security officers, nor should they be expected to react to high stress situations with a threat of physical violence as if they'd been trained to handle such scenarios. As with all such situations, an individual should not be expected to know how they will react until they're facing the threat and should not be held to the same standards that a security patrol would be. Neither Grieco nor Trainer can be faulted for their actions, as the situation was far outside the norm, and it is extremely unlikely that either would have the appropriate training.

Where Grieco and Trainer failed, however, was in letting the two female students get up and leave the area. While they were, rightly, out of their element, the staffers should have immediately gathered the two students and removed them from the area for their own safety, most likely to a locked office or conference room, until security arrived to handle the situation. They certainly could not have restrained the two students, but it should have been fairly simple to get them to a place of safety until the proper authorities arrived.

As can happen, Hanrahan is more concerned with the PR ramifications of an unpleasant situation in the library, as well as the possibility of legal trouble, at the expense of immediately focusing on student safety and figuring out what actually happened. The campus administration will likely make immediate adjustments to the security of the library facility, but that's too late to help Hanrahan.

Immediate steps should be taken, via the dean of students, to contact the women and determine what, if anything, can be done to help them. Additionally, Hanrahan should immediately contact campus security and campus IT to determine if the abusive student can be located by technical means and to make sure that the campus security forces are fully up-to-date on the situation.

Not every possible situation can be planned for, and, in extreme cases, a library administrator has to accept the reaction of those who find themselves wholly out of their depth. Hanrahan should rapidly work toward a cross-training session with the public services personnel and campus security to determine how best to handle future situations, as well as working with campus administration to review the security policies and procedures for the facility.