Sparked by last year’s misreporting of sexual assaults by University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, an investigation of security and reporting of crimes on all 17 UNC System campuses began in early October. Vice Chancellor Pat Leonard and Police Chief David Donaldson are in charge of the investigation for UNCW’s campus and are focusing on remaining in compliance with federal and state laws.

“UNCW is fortunate to have Vice Chancellor Leonard on a team working with this initiative,” Donaldson said. “She and I partner on many fronts.”

The UNC System initiative will focus on three areas- the university’s responses to criminal and sexual harassment offenses, procedures of campus police departments and reporting of crime.

“It’s a time to step back and say as a system, are we doing everything we can and should be doing,” Leonard said.

However, Leonard will be focusing on the issue of alcohol and drugs as it relates to crime due to Gov. McCrory’s recent plan to study the problem.

“There’s three different workgroups and then there’s a group of vice chancellors for student affairs of which I am one of, who are an advisory group as it relates to the issue of alcohol and drugs,” Leonard said.

Leonard has met with vice chancellors from East Carolina University, Appalachian State University, University of North Carolina- Charlotte and UNC Chapel Hill to talk about the issue. She said it is just the beginning of their meetings and no focus beyond alcohol and drugs related to campus crime, has been established yet.

“Typically when there’s violence against a person, it more times than not involves alcohol and drugs,” Leonard said, “so we want to make sure they are incorporating that element appropriately.”

At the committee meeting for the initiative, UNC System President Thomas Ross said that while campus security is an issue, it’s one that’s impossible to fully control, according to a report by the Raleigh News and Observer.

“Concerns about sexual assault and other violent crimes, campus security and crime reporting have become topics of daily conversation throughout higher education,” Ross said according to the News and Observer report. “This is not a UNC phenomenon. It’s happening on college campuses all across America.”

With the beginning stages of the investigation still in progress, Leonard and Donaldson will have more concrete goals as the academic year progresses.