On August 23, 2011, an earthquake struck the mid-Atlantic area of the United States. The earthquake’s epicenter was near Louisa, Virginia, but structures throughout the region were damaged. Belmont Community College (pseudonym), located in a suburban area on the east coast, sustained considerable damage to its largest classroom building, the Eggleston building (pseudonym).
Belmont’s campus was evacuated immediately following the quake, and the Eggleston building was condemned soon after due to substantial structural damage to its foundation, elevators, and stairwells (Gould, 2011, August 31, September 17). The building would not reopen until January 7, 2013 (Gould, 2012, December 6).
Due to the loss of the Eggleston building, classroom space on Belmont’s campus was severely constricted. When the school reopened, course schedules and formats were rearranged. Many courses were forced to quickly transition from face-to-face to online or hybrid classes in order to save space.
The overall goal of this project is to explore the experiences of Belmont Community College’s staff and students during and after the earthquake. These experiences include: the initial shock of the disaster, which occurred on the fall semester’s second day of classes; the earthquake’s threat to the college community’s physical safety; and how the college managed the long-term effects of the quake. Areas of interest include how the college dealt with the degree of damage to the Eggleston building, the discomfort and confusion of having classes abruptly shifted to an online format, and the way the community held together by staying in contact using social media and maintaining campus traditions (such as card games).
Review of the Literature: Limited research on how natural disasters affect colleges exists. Though schools may react to both natural and human-made disasters in similar ways during the immediate phase of an emergency (Kennedy, 2007), man-made disasters, such as shootings or fires, may affect schools in a different way than natural disasters in the long run. When a natural disaster strikes, there is often no one to blame but nature. The college community must move forward without a specific object or person to take the heat of their anger and frustration.
Wallace (1984) looked at how an earthquake in 1983 impacted community colleges in California. In addition to increasing basic safety measures for lab equipment and other dangerous material and improving emergency planning, Wallace noted that community colleges could provide resources to local residents in need when earthquakes or other disasters strike.
Wallace’s work was the earliest article I found that directly addressed how a natural disaster can impact a community college and how a community college can involve the local community during a trying time. Most of the recent work on natural disasters and colleges focused on Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina’s arrival in New Orleans in late August of 2005 disrupted college campuses in the Gulf Coast early in the school year, just as the earthquake came early in the year for BCC. Morris (2008) recalled how her academic life at the University of New Orleans was shaped after Katrina. Like BCC, UNO decided to shift to online classes in order to keep operating while many of its students were seeking refuge throughout the United States. After evacuating to Houston, Morris, an assistant professor, continued to teach online for UNO and developed a flexible syllabus with adjustable due dates and assignments, but ultimately 50% of her students dropped her class (pg. 90). Morris wrote that she later appreciated having to learn to teach online classes and acknowledged the importance of community support during a time of disaster. The largest lesson she learned from the hurricane was the way that natural disasters exacerbate existing problems, and that in the face of a disaster, it’s necessary for students and staff to reevaluate what’s truly important to them. Even though Morris wrote that she loved her job in New Orleans, she did not return to the city after the 2005-2006 school year and eventually resettled in another state.
Collins, Savage, and Wainwright (2008) and Boulard (2005) reported more specific ways that community college faculty and staff dealt with Hurricane Katrina, including driving into New Orleans with a police escort to search a flooded building for back-up data tapes (Collins, Savage and Wainwright, 2008). After the Delgado and Nunez campuses of the Louisiana Community and Technical College system were flooded due to the hurricane, administrators set up offices in an empty supermarket building in Baton Rouge, conducted statewide conference calls with other high-level administrators on other campuses, and created a plan for students that allowed more relaxed admission and alternative schedule classes on Fridays and Saturdays (Boulard, 2005). The need to get classes going as soon as possible was highlighted in these stories from community colleges impacted by Katrina; one administrator said, “This is a poor area of the country, an area that desperately needs education. We can’t wait five or 10 years, we have to pick ourselves up now,” (Boulard, 2005, p. 8).
Kennedy (2007) compared Virginia Tech’s reaction to the mass shooting on its campus in 2007 with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, noting that after Katrina, the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security released a report with recommendations for colleges to follow in the face of various disasters, both natural and man-made. Kennedy noted that the need for instant communication through text messages or social media was true both during the hurricane and during the mass shooting at Tech.
A more recent examination of a natural disaster affecting a community college is seen in Hlinka (2013). Hlinka wrote about how a severe ice storm cut out power to portions of rural western Kentucky in 2009. The school at which she taught, West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah, was closed for a week due to power outages. When the school regained electricity, the college president, Dr. Veazey, held a full faculty and staff meeting to discuss the needs of students and staff, many of whom were still without power (and were predicted to remain without power for up to three weeks). At the meeting, the college’s employees agreed to open the college’s resources to the community, including shower, laundry, and cooking facilities as well as a 24-hour student lounge. They agreed to extend the semester by one week to make up for the time they had lost due to the power outage. Furthermore, Dr. Veazey asked faculty members to be flexible with their attendance and due date policies and made counselors available to students and staff. Hlinka credits Dr. Veazey’s communication with faculty and staff and willingness to hear the recommendations of her employees, noting that Dr. Veazey’s methods could be seen as a model for how a college president can deal with similar natural disasters that impact local communities.
Dabner (2011) looked at how Facebook pages allowed the University of Canterbury in New Zealand to stay connected with students and staff after an earthquake in 2010 forced the school to close for two weeks. In her study of the role that social media played in keeping the university community in touch during those two weeks, Dabner interviewed two employees who created the Facebook site for the University of Canterbury a day after the earthquake. She noted that Facebook—much more than “official” university websites about the earthquake and campus closure—allowed for more interactive communication, allowing students to ask questions and dialogue with each other when aftershocks rocked the local area. Similar to BCC’s Facebook page in the days following the 2011 earthquake, the University of Canterbury site featured many photographs of the damage, allowed for real-time communication, and brought in moments of humor. Dabner’s description of the way the University of Canterbury students and staff used Facebook seems to very closely mirror the way BCC used Facebook after the quake.
Research Questions:
- Did Belmont’s faculty, students, and staff perceive change in their sense of community after the earthquake? If so, how?
- How did faculty, students, and staff negotiate any changes?
- How did social media facilitate these negotiations?
Document Relevance and Description: The document analyzed for this project is Belmont Community College’s Facebook wall from the time period immediately after the earthquake (August 23, 2011) through late October 2011, with the final post a comment made in January 2012. Only posts clearly pertaining to the earthquake and its implications were selected for the analysis. These posts totaled fifteen printed pages of text and photographs.
The events portrayed in the selected Facebook posts include the immediate reaction to the earthquake on August 23, the subsequent confusion about when classes would resume and whether or not classes would be held online, photos of the damage to the campus’s Eggleston building, the students’ return to campus (which coincided with a popular t-shirt giveaway), and concluded with the library’s relocation from the condemned Eggleston building to a temporary space in a corridor near the college auditorium.
Theoretical Framework: Based on the literature, several issues were likely to arise through the analysis of BCC’s Facebook page. The first issue is Facebook as a means of collaborative, democratic communication during a disaster. The University of Canterbury’s campus suffered damage after an earthquake in 2010; according to Dabner (2012), an unofficial Facebook page allowed students and staff to communicate interactively in “real time,” share photographs of the damage, and answer one another’s questions. It was anticipated that these interactions would be apparent in an analysis of BCC’s Facebook wall, too.
Another likely framework for analyzing this document is SchWeber’s (2008) theory of institutional resilience. After exploring the impact of war on Empire State College’s Lebanon Residence Program in 2006 and the impact of Hurricane Katrina on Xavier University in 2005, SchWeber noted four principles that contribute to institutional resilience: adapting to situations and problem-solving, expanding on existing resources and obtaining new resources, making quick decisions, and managing effectively (pg. 40).
Coding System: The coding matrix for the document analysis was created with the above issues in mind. The codes were divided into two categories. The first category of codes was based on Dabner’s work because it so closely tied to the document for this analysis. Dabner looked at Facebook pages for a university immediately after an earthquake in New Zealand, and the present analysis looked at a college’s Facebook page immediately following an earthquake in the United States. The second set of codes was based on SchWeber’s (2008) principles for resilient institutions.
Along with interviews and survey responses, Dabner used screenshots from the University of Canterbury’s Facebook page as data sources for her study. In her paper, Dabner stated that she classified the users and types of posts made on the site and examined the frequency of original posts and threaded replies. Her codes were not included in her paper; however, following her description, the codes for post replies on BCC’s Facebook page for this project were arranged based on users (someone posting as “Belmont Community College” or someone posting as an individual) and the content of the message and its replies. These codes included AC (statements of alarm and concern), QA (questions posed and answered in the thread), SS (sharing stories about the earthquake), and PSH (expressions of positive support or humor).
The second set of codes was based on SchWeber’s (2008) guidelines for resilient institutions in times of disaster. SchWeber noted four principles connected with resilient institutions: adapting to situations and problem-solving, expanding on existing resources and obtaining new resources, making quick decisions, and managing effectively (pg. 40). For this project, three of these principles were selected as codes: APS (adapt/problem-solve), ER (expand resources), and QD (quick decision-making). The principle of effective management was not used as a code because effective management was not clearly discernable in the Facebook posts.
| Code: AC (Alarm and Concern) 23 Reply posts Notable quotes: 8/23/11–“This is terrible […] poor Belmont!” 8/23/11–”We just started and now this happens…” 8/23/11–”Oh no, I just remembered, the construction site…was anybody working? They alright?” 8/24/11–”Well, if Eggleston is closed, I’m dropping my class for a refund.” 8/24/11–”…I can’t do any homework…what do I do? My teacher is psycho!” 8/24/11–”I have an online class that I don’t have a book for yet so I can’t get started…” 9/17/11–”That is crazy! Poor school!” |
| Code: QA (Questions and Answers) 41 Reply posts Notable quotes: 8/23/11–”Closed for today? Or ‘till further notice’?” 8/23/11–”As far as I know, there was no one hurt.” 8/24/11–”I’m not understanding why online classes are included in this…” 8/24/11–”I heard all classes were canceled for the rest of the semester!” 8/24/11–”It’s annoying, but the question now is: what is the most efficient means of resuming operation? Temporary trailers [or] any unused office space looking for a short-term lease?” 8/25/11–”Does that include science lab classes too” 8/25/11–”Calm down. They will give us info as they have it. Just WAIT.” 1/26/12–”Quick question…where did the gaming tables go?” |
| Code: SS (Sharing Stories) 15 Reply posts Notable quotes: 8/23/11–”I’m glad my brother got home safe from his class…” 8/23/11–”Yea I was on the third floor everything was so scary the cracks in the wall ahhh!” 8/24/11–”It’s disappointing to work seven years and decide to go to college, only to have this happen after the first day.” 8/25/11–”Yes, folks were escorted into [Eggleston] building on Wednesday with security and in hard hats. The building, however, was closed at 5pm due to the wind. The engineers didn’t want people in the building as the wind would cause far greater damage and potential collapse.” 10/23/11–“So we are now allowed to play [Yu Gi-Oh card games] in the large space out front? I just want to have my story straight for tomorrow. Also, I don’t mind being outside too much, especially if it’s a beautiful day, but if it’s rainy or windy, that’s no fun.” |
| Code: PSH (Positive Support and Humor) 28 Original and reply posts Notable quotes: 8/24/11–”Belmont is without a doubt the best community college in the state. The community atmosphere that we possess here at this school is second to none […] With hard work, dedication, and a refusal to quit on an obligation made to ourselves we can all get through this semester.” 8/24/11–”Ballin! No school!” 8/25/11–“Thanks for keeping us informed with the info that you get…some of us are willing to lend a hand to help move stuff along quicker. Please let us know if we can come out to [campus] and do what we can.” 8/25/11–“Well, at least I have an extra week to read my chapters.” 8/30/11–“Counseling is going to be swamped the next few days, but I know they will help if you can call them…” 8/31/11—“Shout out to all the BCC students—you guys are awesome!! Despite the headaches, the issues, the changes…you have been patient and supportive. We have witnessed the most amazing acts of kindness. Be proud.” 9/9/11–“Awesome team!” 9/10/11–“The SGA will be distributing Belmont “Quake Break 11” shirts […] in the student lounge on Monday morning. A limited number of shirts are available, and it’s first come, first served! They’re free! […] They’re certain to become collectors’ items. They make great Christmas presents. And they’re free! […] Once they’re gone, count on bidding wars on eBay…” 9/25/11–“[BCC staff members] didn’t hesitate during the quake, thinking and acting quickly to help [a] quadriplegic student…” 9/28/11–“This is the most positive place I’ve ever worked.” 10/20/11–“Tell the kids that play U-gio [sic] to get out [of the improvised library] then. Haha” 10/20/11–”That would be Yu-Gi-Oh!, the King of Games. It’s allowed in the social area at the other end of the hall, not in the library. Pokemon cards also allowed in the social area, not the library.” 10/20/11–”World of Warcraft (WOW) questing is also great. Just not in the library, please. The quake has created a difficult situation and we’re all trying to make the best of it. We greatly appreciate the patience and civility of our students during this challenging time. Perhaps we’ll […] consider hosting tournaments for gamers once we get through this. But we have to get through it together, with consideration for others.” |
| Code: APS (Adapt and Problem Solve) 9 Original posts Notable quotes: 8/23/11–“All Belmont Community College campuses will be closed on August 24, 2011. Faculty and students can pick up any personal belongings that were left behind after today’s evacuation starting tomorrow […] A security escort is required to enter any campus building […] Monitor your emergency text messages, email account and [BCC website] for continuous updates.” 8/23/11–“All Belmont locations are closed until further notice. Buildings are being checked for structural integrity…” 8/24/11–“There will be no classes for the remainder of this week at any Belmont Community College location or online. All classes will resume. We will make an announcement soon as to when they will start. The Eggleston building is out of commission for at least the rest of the semester due to structural damage resulting from the earthquake. We are continuing to check other locations…” 8/30/11—“Getting counseling help, adjusting your schedule online, getting answers to questions related to Belmont Quakebreak 2011…your course schedule may have been affected by the changes resulting from the earthquake, and we ask that you review the online schedule…” 8/31/11—“With the BCC campus cafeteria out of commission, the nearby [regional hospital]’s cafeteria is offering a 15 percent discount to our students.” 9/10/11–“The SGA will be distributing Belmont “Quake Break 11” shirts […] in the student lounge on Monday morning. A limited number of shirts are available, and it’s first come, first served! They’re free! […] They’re certain to become collectors’ items. They make great Christmas presents. And they’re free! […] Once they’re gone, count on bidding wars on eBay…” 9/25/11–“[BCC staff members] didn’t hesitate during the quake, thinking and acting quickly to help [a] quadriplegic student…” 10/20/11—“Earthquake damage has required Belmont to move the library into an area on the first floor, adjacent to the auditorium. The section is now library space only and not social space. It is designated as a quite zone for traditional library activities […] Students are encouraged to socialize in the open court area on the first floor outside room 105B at the other end of the building.” |
| Code: ER (Expanding and Building on Resources) 7 Original posts Notable quotes: 8/24/11–“There will be no classes for the remainder of this week at any Belmont Community College location or online. All classes will resume. We will make an announcement soon as to when they will start. The Eggleston building is out of commission for at least the rest of the semester due to structural damage resulting from the earthquake. We are continuing to check other locations…” 8/30/11—“Some courses have been modified to an online or hybrid format. One hour training sessions for online learning will be available on Wednesday and Thursday from 9am to 8pm…” 8/31/11—“With the BCC campus cafeteria out of commission, the nearby [regional hospital]’s cafeteria is offering a 15 percent discount to our students.” |
| Code: QD (Quick Decision-making) 4 Original posts Notable quotes: 8/23/11–“All Belmont Community College campuses will be closed on August 24, 2011. Faculty and students can pick up any personal belongings that were left behind after today’s evacuation starting tomorrow […] A security escort is required to enter any campus building […] Monitor your emergency text messages, email account and [BCC website] for continuous updates.” 8/23/11–“All Belmont locations are closed until further notice. Buildings are being checked for structural integrity…” 8/24/11–“There will be no classes for the remainder of this week at any Belmont Community College location or online. All classes will resume. We will make an announcement soon as to when they will start. The Eggleston building is out of commission for at least the rest of the semester due to structural damage resulting from the earthquake. We are continuing to check other locations…” 8/25/11—“On Aug. 30, Belmont Community College nursing and dental hygiene students will resume classes. All other students will resume classes on Sept. 6…” |
Results
A clear divide was seen between the two sets of codes. The codes based on Dabner’s work were richer, more varied, and more numerous. They all took place in replies to “official” posts made by BCC. The second set of codes, based on SchWeber’s research, was less varied. These codes appeared in the Facebook page under original, “official” posts sanctioned by the college.
Looking at the clear difference between the data coded with these two sets of codes, one can see that the student side of the story of what happened at BCC after the earthquake differs from the “official,” administrative story. BCC’s Facebook page offers evidence for BCC’s having functioned as a “resilient institution” following the earthquake. The college was able to adapt and problem solve, utilize existing resources, and make quick decisions by rapidly canceling classes, allowing students and faculty to enter the Eggleston building only in the company of security officers and engineers, setting up a clear date for classes to resume, providing counseling to students, arranging discounted meals at the local hospital, giving away t-shirts to boost student morale, and setting up an improvised library. According to the SchWeber guidelines, BCC did a good job of bouncing back after the earthquake.
However, the data collected from the student replies to the “official” Facebook posts and coded with the codes based on Dabner’s work tells a more detailed story. The initial hours and days following the earthquake left students confused about how classes would progress, whether or not the classes would be shifted to another campus, how textbooks could be purchased, and shock and disbelief over the damage to the Eggleston building. Comments also expressed dismay at how the earthquake disrupted a common community ritual at BCC (gaming, such as World of Warcraft, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic: The Gathering) as these games were mentioned numerous times in the Facebook comments.
Both code sets overlapped in some ways. On September 9, the “official” Facebook page included a post that free t-shirts would be given out on campus. Posts related to the “QuakeBreak 2011” t-shirts included many enthusiastic replies from students, and photos of students wearing the t-shirts were included on the page. The t-shirt giveaway was coded as APS and ER because it served as a problem-solving and adaption mechanism for students returning to school after the “quake break,” and, since college students are usually quite happy to receive t-shirts, the relatively small financial investment in the shirts seemed a resource well-used. These posts, and the enthusiastic student response to them, were coded with PSH, as well, because the giveaway generated a positive feeling among students and provided an extra excitement about returning to school after the earthquake. On the Facebook page, students talked about happily standing in long lines to get their shirts.
Another moment in the Facebook wall that was coded with both the Dabner and SchWeber codes was a link to a local newspaper article on September 25. This article described several faculty members who assisted a quadriplegic student on the day of the earthquake. Not only did this fast action of the staff members serve as an example of APS (adaption and problem-solving), but its post on Facebook and its subsequent “likes” showed that the BCC community provided positive support to its members during the quake.
Preliminary Themes: An important theme resulting from the analysis of BCC’s Facebook wall is the idea of the student experience of the earthquake differing significantly from the administrator experience. Even though BCC administrators ostensibly modeled the “resilient institution” principles SchWeber wrote about in her research, these principles seem to have little connection to the resiliency of the students. The Facebook page showed that BCC students had pride in their school (“Belmont is without a doubt the best community college in the state. The community atmosphere that we possess here at this school is second to none;” “This is the most positive place…”), a sense of possessiveness over its rituals (“Perhaps we’ll […] consider hosting tournaments for gamers once we get through this,”), and a concern for others involved with the campus even superfluously (“Oh no, I just remembered, the construction site…was anybody working? They alright?”). At the same time, students were confused about the notifications posted on Facebook (“What do I do?,” “I’m not understanding…,” “It’s annoying…,” “It’s disappointing…,” “So we are not allowed to play…?”).
Did the BCC students with stronger connections to the community persist throughout the semester more successfully than students without such strong ties? Did the earthquake disrupt this community vibe? The last post selected for this analysis—the explanation of the make-shift library space that banned socializing and gaming—suggests that some students were working hard to keep the community bonds strong in spite of the lack of space (“I don’t mind being outside too much, especially if it’s a beautiful day, but if it’s rainy or windy, that’s no fun…”). However, were these students in the minority? Did the overall student experience of the earthquake mirror the staff and administrator experience?
Next steps: The content analysis greatly influences the interview questions for the next phase of this project. Two BCC instructors will be interviewed; they will provide a vital connection between the student perspective and the administrator perspective because, as employees of BCC (and adults) they may have had a greater sense of the scope of what was happening on the campus than their students. At the same time, they lack the authority and ability to make decisions that administrators possess. In addition to the two faculty members, with luck, at least one of the students who participated in the Facebook discussion will agree to be interviewed so that their story and memories can be explored in greater depth.
References
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