55% of faculty and staff at the University of Idaho reported that their greatest concern about campus safety was the potential for an active shooter. At the Faculty Senate meeting on Feb. 17, Kristin Haltinner, a professor of sociology, presented the findings gathered by the ad hoc committee on employee safety and security on campus formed in Fall 2025.
The key takeaways presented by Haltinner were that 36% of sure respondents reported a situation in which they felt unsafe or threatened. Around 40% of women and non-binary employees and around 55% of employees of color reported experiencing such circumstances. The measures of concern identified in the survey include harassment, threats or stalking from the public, students or other UI employees, online harassment and active shooters.
Employees with prior experiences of feeling threatened or unsafe responded that they felt significantly higher levels of concern across all measures.
The largest category of people reported to be causing these discomforts were undergraduate students at 31%, followed by community members at 15%. Despite this statistic, 42% of employees expressed the most concerns about threats from community members, which Haltinner explained was likely a fear of the abstract other.
“We tend to fear people we don’t know and we know students,” Haltinner said.
The committee recommended the creation of a victim advisor group to support employees navigating situations in which they experience harassment or a loss of safety at UI, which would connect the person to appropriate services including counseling, medical, law enforcement or legal support.
Haltinner recommended that the senate create an ad hoc committee charged with developing a policy around the use of e-bikes and scooters on campus as an element of pedestrian safety.
The committee also recommended that the Faculty Senate serve as a conduit for distributing information to ensure employees are aware of ongoing safety planning by Campus Security. Such projects include the installation of electronic locks on campus buildings, the addition of buttons to classrooms that enable faculty to call campus security in the event of a non-emergency situation, improving campus lighting and increasing the visibility of campus security and the Moscow Police Department.
The response rates for faculty and staff were around 25% while the response rates for graduate students were less than 10%, according to Haltinner.
Joshua Reisenfeld can be reached at [email protected].