Rhode Island Statewide Higher Education Active Shooter Hostile Response (ASHR) Preparedness Initiative

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Following the December 2025 mass shooting at Brown University, and with strong statewide collaboration from the Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner and participating colleges and universities, Rhode Island undertook a statewide effort to strengthen active threat preparedness across its higher education community. Using State funding, the initiative was made available to both public and private colleges and universities, creating a common opportunity to examine preparedness, strengthen executive decision-making and identify shared challenges. 

The Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner engaged Jensen Hughes to develop and facilitate the initiative. The project began with a statewide Executive Planning Meeting involving senior leaders from State government, higher education, law enforcement, emergency management, public health, and other response partners. 

A STATEWIDE INITIATIVE OF UNIQUE SCALE

Few preparedness initiatives provide the opportunity to examine nearly an entire state's higher education community through a common framework. Rhode Island's initiative brought together 10 of the State's 11 degree-granting colleges and universities—public and private—creating a statewide view of preparedness that could not have been achieved through individual institutional exercises alone.

To our knowledge, an active threat preparedness initiative of this scale—bringing nearly an entire state's public and private higher education community through a coordinated executive-level exercise and assessment process—is unique nationally. Over approximately three months, Jensen Hughes developed and facilitated executive-level tabletop exercises engaging executive leadership from the participating colleges and universities.

This is an important part of the story.

Rhode Island should be recognized as a leader for undertaking an initiative of this magnitude. Jensen Hughes supported that leadership with the emergency management, active threat preparedness, exercise design, facilitation, evaluation and program-development expertise necessary to turn the State's vision into a coordinated statewide initiative.

The result was more than 10 individual exercises. Taken together, the exercises provided Rhode Island with a broader understanding of higher-education preparedness across the State, identifying common strengths, recurring challenges and areas where continued investment and coordination could yield the greatest statewide benefit. 

MORE THAN AN ACTIVE SHOOTER EXERCISE

The initiative intentionally looked beyond tactical law enforcement response.

While law enforcement, fire, EMS and other responders would manage tactical response operations, college and university leaders would simultaneously face critical decisions affecting students, employees, communications, facilities, technology, academic operations, continuity, families, behavioral health and recovery.

For that reason, participation extended well beyond campus public safety and emergency management, and included presidents and senior administrators, student affairs, communications, facilities and operations, information technology, human resources, academic affairs, legal counsel, risk management, finance, behavioral health, health services, residential life and other institutional leaders. 

Each exercise was customized to the participating institution while maintaining a consistent statewide framework. This allowed individual institutions to examine their own preparedness while allowing Jensen Hughes to identify common issues and challenges occurring across Rhode Island's higher education community.

MEASURABLE RESULTS

A total of 63 participants completed post-exercise evaluations. The results demonstrated both the value of the exercises and strong support for continued statewide preparedness efforts: 

• 98% rated the exercise Very Useful or Extremely Useful
• 90% agreed or strongly agreed that their institution was better prepared, as a result of participating
• 100% identified preparedness improvements their institution intends to pursue
• 97% agreed or strongly agreed that Rhode Island colleges and universities benefit from conducting preparedness activities collaboratively
• 100% agreed or strongly agreed that continued statewide active threat preparedness initiatives would benefit Rhode Island's higher education institutions

The feedback demonstrated that participants were not simply asking for another exercise or a single planning document. Their priorities pointed toward a broader need for continued training, planning support, exercising, emergency management coordination and statewide collaboration. 

FROM INDIVIDUAL EXERCISES TO STATEWIDE PREPAREDNESS

The statewide approach allowed Rhode Island to identify issues that extend beyond the responsibility or capability of any individual college or university. The project examined opportunities involving institutional preparedness, executive decision-making under uncertainty, statewide training and exercises, emergency management coordination, mutual aid and resource sharing, crisis communications, family assistance and reunification, continuity, recovery, campus mapping, responder access, interoperable communications and State and public safety coordination. 

The final statewide assessment established a framework for moving those findings toward measurable improvements:

Identify the Issue → Engage the Responsible Partners → Develop the Solution → Document and Implement → Train → Exercise → Evaluate → Improve

The exercise series therefore represents a beginning rather than an endpoint.

“The completion of this exercise series should therefore be viewed as the initial assessment phase, not the end of the preparedness effort.” 

The project should be a celebrated example of Rhode Island taking a leadership position in higher education preparedness by bringing nearly its entire public and private higher education community together through a committed common statewide initiative. And Jensen Hughes is honored to have helped them turn that vision into action. Our team used our expertise to develop the statewide framework, customized and facilitated the executive-level exercises, engaged institutional and response partners, evaluated recurring findings across the State, collected and analyzed participant feedback and translated the results into recommendations for continued statewide preparedness to help turn that vision into a coordinated statewide preparedness initiative.

The project demonstrates Jensen Hughes' ability to help clients move beyond isolated exercises toward a broader preparedness model incorporating:

Assessment → Planning → Coordination → Training → Exercises → Evaluation → Continuous Improvement

PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS

• Salve Regina University
• Johnson & Wales University
• Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
• Roger Williams University
• Rhode Island College
• Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI)
• Providence College
• University of Rhode Island
• Bryant University
• New England Institute of Technology