Updated: March 7, 2025, at 1:01 p.m.
Officials on Wednesday named Assistant Vice President of University Resilience Katie McDonald the interim associate vice president for campus safety, a role they created at the recommendation of a police chief involved in the third-party investigation into the GW Police Department’s arming rollout.
McDonald will oversee campus safety and facilitate “close coordination” between GW offices like the Office of Advocacy and Support and GWPD in light of the recent findings from a third-party investigation, which confirmed reports from former officers of firearm safety violations within GWPD. Vice President for Safety and Operations Baxter Goodly said McDonald has “deep experience” in emergency preparedness and will work to engage students, faculty and staff in the Universities’ upcoming safety initiatives, like officials’ search for the next police chief.
Timothy Longo, University of Virginia’s chief of police, worked on the monthslong investigation and recommended that GW implement the position, University President Ellen Granberg announced Tuesday.
“This is an important organizational change that will best support the university by increasing collaboration and coordination among the teams critical to keeping our community safe,” Goodly said.
The third-party investigation, conducted by law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, confirmed The Hatchet’s reporting in September 2024 of faulty firearm registration for GWPD officers and a lack of comprehensive training within the department. Former GWPD Chief James Tate resigned in October.
Granberg said the associate vice president for campus safety will work with “external partners” to ensure a “comprehensive” approach to campus safety.
As of Wednesday the GW Human Resource Management and Development office has yet to post the job listing to hire the permanent associate vice president for campus safety on their open positions page.
The Wednesday release states that Longo’s additional recommendations, which include the creation of a mental health response team, a rapid response unit and plans to launch a national search for the next GWPD Chief remain under consideration by officials. At a Student Government Association meeting last month Goodly said GW officials have selected a recruiting company to conduct the search for candidates, but the University is still up to four months away from selecting final applicants.
“The university plans to launch a national search for a permanent chief of GWPD, which is a top priority for McDonald, and will provide more information as it is available,” the Wednesday release states.
Wednesday’s release states that McDonald is a “long term” staff member at GW and has led “many” of Universities’ safety initiatives as well as held positions in the Federal Emergency Management Agency and as a civilian analyst in the Chicago Police Department.
At GW, McDonald previously served as assistant vice president of university resilience, where she oversaw operations within the Office of Sustainability, Environmental Health and Safety, EMeRG, and the Office of Emergency Management. Josh Lasky, who currently serves as director of the office of sustainability, will temporarily assume the role, according to the release.
This post has been updated to correct the following:
A prior version of this post referred to Katie McDonald as the interim vice president for campus safety. She is the interim associate vice president for campus safety. We regret this error.
