An Oral History Exploration of Change at the University of Kentucky Following the Virginia Tech Shooting
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation 2019 AN ORAL HISTORY EXPLORATION OF CHANGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY FOLLOWING THE VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTING Marianne R. L. Young University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6323-9703 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2019.007 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Young, Marianne R. L., "AN ORAL HISTORY EXPLORATION OF CHANGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY FOLLOWING THE VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTING" (2019). Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation. 62. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/epe_etds/62 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Marianne R. L. Young, Student Dr. Jane Jensen, Major Professor Dr. Jane Jensen, Director of Graduate Studies AN ORAL HISTORY EXPLORATION OF CHANGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY FOLLOWING THE VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTING ________________________________________ DISSERTATION ________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky By Marianne Remae Lodmell Young Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Jane Jensen, Professor of Education Policy Studies and Evaluation Lexington, Kentucky 2019 Copyright © Marianne Remae Lodmell Young 2019 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6323-9703 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION AN ORAL HISTORY EXPLORATION OF CHANGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY FOLLOWING THE VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTING Following the mass shooting at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, institutions of higher education appeared to restructure themselves and change the way that they worked with students who may pose a risk to self or others. They formed committees, sometimes known as Communities of Concern, to help review these concerns and respond appropriately. The purpose of this study was to examine how the Community of Concern Committee at the University of Kentucky was developed following the incident at Virginia Tech. Particular attention was focused on the change and learning that took place. Using the frames of single-loop and double-loop learning, this study examined six oral history accounts of the development of the Community of Concern Committee at the University of Kentucky. The oral histories coupled with historical documents provided a timeline of events related to the development of the committee. In addition, the oral histories revealed a complex learning process which blended single and double-loop learning to guide this institutional change. The comparison between this incident and other legal issues within higher education was explored as well as the opportunity to expand this exploration outside of the current case study. KEYWORDS: Student Affairs, Virginia Tech, Higher Education Law, Community of Concern, Organizational Change Marianne Remae Lodmell Young (Name of Student) 01/22/2019 Date AN ORAL HISTORY EXPLORATION OF CHANGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY FOLLOWING THE VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTING By Marianne Remae Lodmell Young Dr. Jane Jensen Director of Dissertation Dr. Jane Jensen Director of Graduate Studies 01/22/2019 Date DEDICATION To Jay, Thomas, and Thea. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first want to acknowledge the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting as well as their families and friends. It is my hope that this work plays a small part in helping to prevent another horrific tragedy. I also want to thank the six individuals who shared their oral histories regarding their work in creating organizational change at the University of Kentucky. Without their stories, this dissertation would not have been possible. Many thanks for the support of my dissertation committee members: Dr. Kathi L. H. Harp for kindly agreeing to serve as my outside examiner and providing cross- disciplinary perspective; Dr. Douglas A. Boyd for generously sharing his love of oral history and guidance with methodology; Dr. Willis Jones for pushing me to consider things from multiple theoretical views and sharing his scholarly expertise; Dr. Michael Covert for reminding me to connect to my practitioner roots and for being a part of the process from my start as an undergraduate student to the very end; and Dr. Jane Jensen who I will never be able to repay for her patience, wisdom, expertise, and support as well as her willingness to have confidence in me when I often did not have it in myself. In addition to these amazing scholars, I want to thank Dr. Neal Hutchens who sparked my love of learning, provided mentorship and opportunities for educational and professional growth, and stuck with me to the very end. Thank you all for investing in me. There is absolutely no way that I can thank each person who provided support and encouragement along the way; I have been lucky that there have been many. However, I do want to recognize my supportive supervisors, Dr. Scott Kelley and Adrienne McMahan, who provided me the opportunity and space to do this as well as Dr. Brendan O’Farrell and Robert Hayes who have traveled the educational path with me. Without Dr. iii Casey Shadix and Dr. Sarah Ballard, I do not think I could have done this. Their constant support and words of wisdom were transformative. I want to thank my mom, Donita Lodmell; brothers, John, David, James, and Matthew; and sisters, Carlene and Darlene, for instilling in me the importance of education. Even though he could not be here, I know my dad, Dr. John D. Lodmell, would be proud of this work and I thank him for watching out for me from above. Lastly, I want to thank Jay, Thomas, and Thea. You all were what kept me going. I wish I had better words to express how much you all have meant to me on this journey and I hope that you know how much I appreciate the love, patience, and support you have shown. Jay, thank you for always finding a way to make this possible. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 History of Violence in Higher Education ....................................................................... 2 Virginia Tech. ............................................................................................................. 8 Threat Assessment Teams ............................................................................................. 11 Definition of threat assessment. ................................................................................ 15 Basic response procedures. ....................................................................................... 16 Threat assessment team composition and name ....................................................... 17 Threat Assessment Literature ....................................................................................... 19 Research Question ........................................................................................................ 20 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 23 ADA and 504 Protections ............................................................................................. 31 Organizational Learning ............................................................................................... 37 Concepts in organizational learning.........................................................................