UNC campus security review holds public forum

The panel reviewing whether campuses are responding properly to allegations of sexual assault and other violent crimes got feedback from parents, students and administrators. They gathered at North Carolina State University. The panel will take a list of recommendations to UNC System President Tom Ross in April.

"As a system, we're just working hard to make sure that each of the campuses understands their responsibility, is committed to the safety and security of students and working hard to learn from the best practices across the system," said N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson.

Parent Lynn Blalock spoke about her son, Tyler, who died in 2012 at Appalachian State University after he drank alcohol, fell into a creek and hit his head.

"That's why I am here, to create change within the North Carolina University System and to quit allowing mixed messages to be sent to these kids," Blalock said.

The state's public university administrators created the panel after a pair of cases this year accusing campus officials of burying reported crimes.

Current and former students and the former assistant dean of students at UNC-Chapel Hill complained to the U.S. Education Department that the university was hostile toward sexual assault victims and under-reported campus crimes.

Investigators found campus police at Elizabeth City State University didn't investigate more than 100 alleged crimes. The school's police chief resigned and its chancellor retired.