Texas Hold ‘Em: An Exploration of the Divergent Perspectives of Texas’s Campus Carry Law

One of the most pressing concerns on college campuses today is student safety. To date, nine states have passed Campus Carry legislation and more states may follow. Texas was the eighth state to pass Campus Carry legislation. Specifically, in the 2015 Legislative session, the Texas Legislature voted to allow License to Carry (LTC) holders to carry concealed weapons on college and university campuses. This law, Senate Bill 11 (SB 11), took effect in the fall 2016 at four-year universities and, a year later, took effect on two-year college campuses across Texas. At the heart of this debate, are questions that will affect college campuses across this nation: will this law make colleges safer, or more dangerous and how practical is it to allow or prevent guns on campus? This article employed a case study approach to explore the perspectives held by faculty, staff and students at a Texas community college, which is currently implementing this new law. While the vast majority of Higher Education institutions opposed this new law, its passage in the Texas legislature was swift. At the onset of this study, the researcher speculated that the Campus Carry Law would be vigorously opposed by the faculty, staff and students, but surprisingly this research revealed dramatically different perspectives held by the stakeholders mostly centered around one issue: perceptions of safety. This research also seeks to outline policy considerations for institutions in states with similar pending legislation.     

College Students Perceptions Toward Carrying Concealed Weapons on College Campuses

This study uses a survey of undergraduate college students at two schools in the eastern United States to investigate their attitudes toward carrying concealed weapons on campus. We found that politically conservative white men who own guns are more likely to be in favor of qualified students and faculty carrying concealed weapons on campus than politically liberal non-whites and women who do not own guns. Neither academic major nor age had a significant effect on any of our dependent variables.     

University Faculty Attitudes Toward Guns on Campus

A number of states are currently reviewing legislation expanding handgun legislation, and studies examining the public's attitudes toward gun control legislation are abundant. This article examines attitudes of university faculty toward expanding the places where concealed handguns may be carried to include college campuses and churches. An opinion survey was administered to 287 faculty/administrators. Bivariate relationships are discussed, as well as three regression models examining the effects of six independent variables on support for current gun legislation, support for expanding concealed carry on college campuses, and support for expanding concealed carry in places of worship. Results showed that a substantial majority of faculty opposes such legislation, but support or opposition is significantly determined by political party and gun ownership.     

Differences Across Majors in the Desire to Obtain a License to Carry a Concealed Handgun on Campus: Implications for Criminal Justice Education

The current study examines whether students' course of study is related to their desire to carry a concealed handgun on campus. This analysis is motivated by a growing number of studies that have explored differences between criminal justice (CJ) and other majors in the areas of personality, attitudes, values, and career expectations, and also by discussions of the issue of concealed handguns on campuses following recent shootings on college campuses. Using data from over 3,100 students who completed an online survey instrument, results revealed that CJ majors were in fact more interested in carrying a legally concealed handgun on campus, if it were allowed by university policies. These results held even when controlling for other significant predictors of the desire to carry a concealed handgun. Implications for CJ education and the wider debate about concealed weapons on university campuses are discussed.     

Social Status and the Effects of Legal Concealed Firearms on College Campuses

Research consistently shows that students and faculty are generally against expanding access to firearms on campus, and many stakeholders worry about the effects of campus carry laws on student violence, civility, and feelings of safety. We contribute to this literature by investigating how potential changes to campus carry policies affect students’ reported commitment to campus activities. Theories explaining fear of crime and social commitment led to hypotheses that predict members of socially disadvantaged groups—specifically women and minority students—would report less favorable attitudes toward gun possession on campus, greater feelings of vulnerability to victimization, and less commitment to the college environment when students or staff may possess guns. Hypotheses received support, and add to the growing literature documenting potential issues that legislators, administrators, and faculty might consider when debating the enactment of campus carry policies.     

Creating and Implementing a Faculty Interest Group for Historically Underrepresented Faculty

This article describes the creation and implementation of a faculty interest group for historically underrepresented faculty at a large, urban community college in the Northeast. Faculty interest groups provide opportunities for faculty across disciplines to meet to explore common interests and share concerns and best practices. The faculty interest group described in this article was designed to explore and address the challenges faced by historically underrepresented faculty and facilitate the process of attaining reappointment, promotion, and tenure. Nationwide, nearly half of community college students come from populations that are also historically underrepresented, and community colleges are challenged to recruit and retain faculty that mirror the student body. Research demonstrates that historically underrepresented faculty members enrich the overall education of all students, and yet a significant number of those faculty members describe their college campuses as unwelcoming. Factors that make campuses unwelcoming for these faculty include, but are not limited to, the following: isolation and marginalization; salary disparities; microaggressions based on race, gender, and sexual identity; heightened visibility; and additional role demands. Community college administrators ought to be concerned with historically underrepresented faculty members’ satisfaction and persistence on campus because these faculty members are vital members of the academy. Faculty interest groups for historically underrepresented faculty may provide the support and professional development opportunities that will ensure their retention and success in academia.     

Decoding the Digital Campus Climate for Prospective LGBTQ+ Community Colleges Students

LGBTQ+ students are increasingly visible on community college campuses, and a safe and welcoming campus climate is critical to LGBTQ+ students’ academic success and well-being. Campus climate is difficult to assess for prospective LGBTQ+ community college students, and institutional websites may be a source of information about campus climate. This study used content analysis to document and analyze the digital campus climate for prospective LGBTQ+ students in the community colleges context by examining institutional websites. Using a mixed methods approach, website content of nine community colleges was analyzed, and both the quantity and nature of the content were used to make sense of colleges’ digital campus climate for prospective LGBTQ+ students. With the exception of a couple colleges, we found that the digital campus climate was not welcoming to prospective LGBTQ+ students. The results suggest that community colleges need to enhance their website in several ways and expand their overall programming (academic and non-academic) to ensure prospective LGBTQ+ students feel welcomed and safe on community college campuses.     

Measuring the Quality of Faculty and Administrative Worklife: Implications for College and University Campuses

There seems to be a presumption that the quality of worklife on college and university campuses has declined for faculty and administrative staff. What is not known is how generally true this is perceived to be, to what extent the quality of worklife varies by campus, and for what reasons it varies. Most importantly, it is not clear what impact the quality of worklife of faculty and staff members has on their performance or retention. The following article reviews the recent empirical literature devoted to this topic and offers a framework that conceptualizes these studies in three groups: those that describe and explore differences in the quality of worklife, those that determine the impact of worklife on attitudes, and those that attempt to explain behavioral outcomes. The implications of this work for practice and policy on college and university campuses is discussed. The author argues that campus leaders who want to improve the performance and retention of faculty and administrative staff must identify and address the particular issues that matter to those employed on their campuses.     

Research: Students' Perceptions of Need for Personal Counseling Services in Community Colleges

Although the need for personal counseling services is on the rise across college campuses in the United States, many community colleges do not offer personal counseling services on campus. Instead, community college counseling services focus primarily on academic and career advising. The purpose of this study was to survey community college students in North Carolina to determine their interest in and need for a personal counseling center on campus. Participants were 134 men and 202 women, 18–68 years of age. Of the participants, 70% indicated that having a personal counseling center on campus would be “very helpful” or “helpful.” Results are discussed, and recommendations are made for college counselors working in community college settings.     

Implementing transfer and articulation: A case study of community colleges and state universities

This study examined the cultural aspects of a transfer articulation policy between public community colleges and state universities enacted by a newly consolidated state governing board for higher education in a northeastern state. A qualitative multisite case study design explored how key stakeholders, faculty, administrators and staff viewed the transfer policy from their unique perspectives. Tierney’s (2008) cultural analysis of governance was used to examine the effectiveness of communication and decision-making on the part of the board. The study also applied Handel’s (2011) theory of a transfer affirming culture along with Jain, Herrera, Bernal, and Solorzano’s (2011) research on the requisite services for pretransfer and posttransfer success of nontraditional students. The use of several theoretical frameworks provides “a more powerful lens than when using only one in helping to interpret and understand culture” (Kezar &; Eckel, 2002, p. 440). The study was guided by the following question: How do community college and state university faculty, administrators and staff perceive the Transfer Mobility Policy in relation to their campus cultures? The findings identified difficulties with community college curricula and student transfer advising as well as a cultural gap between the community colleges and the state university. They underscored the politics that surrounds higher education governance reform and resultant clash between political and academic cultures. This study may help policy makers promote statewide transfer and articulation initiatives and be instructive for faculty, administrators, and staff as they seek to improve the success of students who transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges and universities.     

Organizational Effectiveness of 2-Year Colleges: The Centrality of Cultural and Leadership Complexity

The central purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which community college faculty and administrators' perceptions of the organizational effectiveness of their institutions was related to their perceptions of the cognitive and behavioral complexity of the organizational cultures and the leadership roles performed by senior campus officials of their institutions. The findings show a strong relationship between perceptions of the organizational effectiveness of the institutions and the level of complexity in their campus cultures and the leadership behaviors of senior campus officials. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for future research on the organizational effectiveness of colleges and universities and policy and practice initiatives that have the potential to improve the performance of these institutions.     

Leading from the Inside Out: Learned Respect for Academic Culture through Shared Governance

ABSTRACT

Traditionally, faculty members who expected to become presidents ascended through the typical labor chain to that position. However, questions are prevalent about whether these individuals gain the managerial experience needed to succeed in a presidency. Unlike the private business management model that has been successful in developing leaders in that arena, community colleges have not provided such formal training to former faculty members who are well-versed in their field and academic-related issues, but lack formal managerial skills development. One area where such training may be achieved is through the development of the leaders of faculty senate bodies. Faculty senate bodies provide their leaders with an opportunity to provide a voice in the campus decision-making process and, potentially, may present an opportunity for more formal training for those interested in the presidency. Further analysis of the perceived skills of these leaders is an important step in addressing this need. The purpose of this study was to identify areas of common thinking among community college presidents and faculty senate leaders about the importance of certain experiences and beliefs needed by effective community college presidents, and the extent that they can be learned by service on the faculty senate.     

Hiring and Developing Quality Community College Faculty

There is a likely community college teacher shortage on the horizon. Thus, community colleges not only need to focus on hiring quality instructors who emphasize teaching excellence, but institutions need to invest time and resources developing quality faculty plans to address faculty needs and provide adequate faculty development programs. When Iowa's community college licensure law was repealed in 2003, 15 area community colleges were left with the task of developing their own quality faculty plans. The Quality Faculty Plan design and one-year implementation is assessed.     

Provision for community college faculty development in collective bargaining agreements

While the need for community college faculty development has evolved into a top priority issue over the last decade, collective bargaining has become a significant influence on the programs and policies of two-year campuses in many states. The following study examines the trends of collective negotiations as they affect inservice education, through an examination of collective bargaining agreements. The findings indicate that few colleges declare the purpose of faculty development to be increased teaching effectiveness or link participation in professional growth activities with reward for that participation. Few colleges include faculty on inservice planning bodies. However, facilitating policies for staff development exist in significant numbers of agreements, providing for inservice days, leaves of absence, sabbaticals, tuition reimbursement for formal study, and released time for innovative program development. In all, the trend is presently one of negotiation of provisions in a piecemeal fashion rather than one with the goal of establishing comprehensive professional improvement programs.     

Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Student Experiences in Christian Higher Education: A Qualitative Exploration

Religion and spirituality are important in the lives of many transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) individuals. Although TGNC students can make unique contributions to Christian colleges and universities (CCUs), many individuals who identify as both religious and TGNC report rejection from nonaffirming religious communities that view TGNC identities and expression as sinful or psychologically disordered. Additionally, previous research has suggested that TGNC college students experience disproportionately high rates of verbal and sexual harassment, threats, physical assault, and anti-TGNC messaging on college campuses. In order to better understand the experiences of TGNC students who attended nonaffirming CCUs, semistructured interviews were conducted with seven TGNC students and alumni regarding their gender identity, religion, spirituality, campus experiences, and perceptions of campus climate. Data analysis was completed using guidelines consistent with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Shaw, 2010). Findings revealed four major themes: (a) invisibility of TGNC individuals and identities on campus, (b) rejection within the college environment, (c) ambivalence and psychological conflict about integrating religion, spirituality, and gender identity, and (d) resilience and the importance of campus support systems. Recommendations for creating greater inclusion of TGNC students on CCU campuses are presented. This study also explores clinical considerations for mental health professionals and student services personnel employed at CCUs.     

Negative Thought Patterns of Undecided Community College Students: Implications for Counselors and Advisors

The purpose of this study was to explore the negative thinking patterns of incoming community college freshmen who were undecided about choosing a major and to suggest an approach for addressing these issues on a community college campus. Sixty community college freshmen attending their freshman orientation (FO) were surveyed using the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI). Results indicated that the students who participated in the study scored higher on all CTI scales than high school or college students in the normative sample. There were no differences in scores in terms of ages, gender, or ethnicity. These results suggest that community colleges should design programming that can help new students, particularly freshmen; to identify and to address their unconstructive thoughts with the aim of helping these students learn how to manage their anxiety upon entering college. Counselors and advisors should work more collaboratively by shifting from an individual model of delivering services to a more holistic learning approach in order to help students to become more decisive about an educational career path.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF CRITICAL MASS: The Role of Latino Representation in the Success of Urban Community College Students

The community college has historically functioned as a primary access point to postsecondary education for Latino students. This study, an investigation conducted through an analysis of the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) project, focuses on Latino students enrolled in urban “minority-majority” community colleges, where Latino students have a high representation. The specific interest of this research is the role and effect of the level of representation of Latino community college students on their academic outcomes. The relationship between the level of representation of Latinos, and the levels of academic success are analyzed in concert with other variables, such as, the level of representation of Latino faculty on campus, student age, attitude, academic integration, English ability and aspiration. Findings indicate a relationship between academic success of Latino community college students and the proportion of Latino students and faculty on campus. The findings thus suggest that a critical mass of Latinos may be a positive influence encouraging “minority” students to higher academic performance.     

The Level of Decision-Making,Perceived Influence,and Perceived Satisfaction of Faculty and Their Impact on Student Retention in Community Colleges

ABSTRACT

This study expanded on previous models that looked primarily at student and support factors related to student retention and examined other stakeholder group functions not previously reviewed in relation to student retention. The research question assumed that greater faculty participation in campus decision-making and faculty satisfaction would have been associated with a higher campus student retention rate. The non-experimental retrospective design examined the unanalyzed 2007 community college (CC) Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey in relation to campus retention rates. The CAP captured faculty perceptions of whether faculty or non-faculty entities were the primary influence on decisions regarding academic matters, as well as a rating of faculty satisfaction. Analysis indicated that CC faculty rated their participation in campus decision-making versus non-faculty entities similarly to the ratings of faculty who had completed the CAP at four-year institutions. When compared with the 2007 retention rate per campus, only faculty job satisfaction was statistically significantly positively associated with student retention. Recommendations for future research include continuing to look at retention as an outcome of a multi-factorial model involving all campus stakeholders, and more research with retention as the outcome.     

SERVING STUDENT NEEDS THROUGH WRITING CENTERS

Many community colleges have writing centers to help students develop their writing skills because the ability to communicate ideas clearly and accurately is essential for college success. Writing centers are staffed by faculty members, paraprofessionals, and peer tutors who assist students with planning, drafting, and revising essays and research projects. Many centers also offer computer programs and word processing as writing tools. These findings resulted from a study of 13 writing centers in community colleges belonging to the League for Innovation in the Community College. We used a questionnaire to collect data on the design and operation of each center. Although many similarities exist, each campus has modified such features as staffing, hours, and services to meet the needs of its student body. Usage rates indicate that students need and seek out services that can help them achieve academic success.