Public Safety at Washington and Lee University has a new interim director. But the department has not explained what happened to its previous leader.

The university hired Alex Rabar to take on the role of interim director in January, according to an article published in the Columns. But the university has not addressed why Craig VanClief, who had served as the head of Public Safety for the past year and a half, no longer holds the position.

Public Safety’s responsibilities include responding to emergencies, addressing crime reports and enforcing parking restrictions, according to the university website. The department, which has 26 full-time employees, also runs shuttle services that take students to airports and local destinations in Lexington.

Rabar will remain interim director until the end of the school year. According to a job posting at the executive search firm Spelman and Johnson, the university is currently conducting interviews for a “Chief Public Safety Officer” who should begin work in the late spring or early summer.

“The department is being led by an interim director on a contract basis while the university conducts this national search for its next chief,” the posting said.

The posting said that the university brought in an assessment firm this summer to evaluate its Public Safety department. According to Spelman and Johnson, the results of the assessment led to a change in how the department will be run.

“The director of public safety role has been elevated to the chief public safety officer,” the posting said, “reflecting the position’s strategic importance.”

The new position will expand the role of Public Safety’s leader, the posting said. The chief officer will be required to undertake a “comprehensive review” of department policies and design a plan for how to improve Public Safety based on last summer’s assessment.

The posting also said mental health will be a priority, and the new chief will be required to oversee training on how to handle situations involving a mental health crisis.

Rabar is no stranger to college campuses. He was previously a police captain at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J., according to reporting by News 12 New Jersey. He served in that role from 1995 until 2023.

VanClief became the university’s Public Safety director in June 2023. He held the position during a lockdown in response to a threat of violence in November 2023 and a bomb threat in July 2024. The department received criticism from students for its lack of communication during both incidents, according to previous reporting by the Phi.

More recently, VanClief’s tenure also saw the vandalism of the Red House, an LGBTQ resource center on campus. According to previous reporting by the Phi, a joint investigation by Public Safety and the Lexington Police Department is ongoing.

Different sources offer different accounts of where VanClief is now. On Workday, his position has been updated to “Special Advisor to the Vice President for Student Affairs,” and he has been replaced by Rabar on the university website. But VanClief’s LinkedIn profile says that he is still the Public Safety director.

A search for “VanClief” in the staff directory no longer yields any results.

The Phi reached out to both Rabar and VanClief using their university email addresses. Neither responded. Nor did Alex Miller, vice president for student affairs, whose office oversees Public Safety. Phone calls to the offices of both Miller and Rabar also went unanswered.

Robert Cooper, ’27, said he finds it odd that VanClief’s tenure as director was so short. “Kind of interesting that prior person [VanClief] only made it a year and a half,” he said.

Cooper said he has appreciated when the university has informed students of administration changes in the past. Last April, for instance, students got an email telling them that Miller had been appointed as the new vice president of student affairs. Cooper said the lack of outreach this time was troubling.

“Considering Public Safety is something we kind of have to interact with,” Cooper said, “it would be nice to know a little bit about what’s going on.”