In April, 1986 Jeanne Clery, a 19-year old student at Lehigh University, was assaulted and murdered in her on-campus residence hall room. Her convicted assailant, who is spending life behind bars without parole, was also a student at the school whom Jeanne did not know prior to the attack. The Clery family were extremely concerned about the lack of information provided students and families about the rapid increase of violent and non-violent incidents on campuses and they realized that while crimes were being reported to campus authorities, administrators often failed to provide adequate warnings about those incidents. Additionally, the Clerys maintained that if there were uniform laws mandating institutions to do so, prospective students and their families would have a better sense for safety on campus.
As a result of a concentrated lobbying effort, in 1990 Congress enacted the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act, which required all postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV student financial aid programs to disclose campus crime statistics and security information. In 1998, the law was renamed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). The Act has been named amended over the years, most recently in 2008 (with additional provisions added via the SaVE portion of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.
In a nutshell, the Clery Act requires that we record and report certain crime statistics, give timely warnings of crimes that represent a threat to the safety of students or employees, and make public our campus security policies.
All public and private institutions of postsecondary education participating in federal student aid programs are subject to it. Violators can be fined a significant amount by the U.S. Department of Education, the agency charged with enforcement of the Act or face other enforcement action.
Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ must produce an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, known as an ASR, and distribute it to the campus community on or before October 1st. The campus must also have printed copies available and mail those to people upon request.
The University also keeps an up-to-date daily log of all reported crimes, available at the John R. Yurtchuk Student Center Information Desk, with their disposition.
Additionally, the University has designated individuals who serve as Campus Security Authorities (CSAs). CSAs are a select group of faculty, staff, and students who, by the nature of their position, are required to report crimes to Campus Safety. CSAs, who also serve as Responsible Persons under Title IX, are provided with training each year to ensure that they know their responsibilities under the law and to ensure that the University is able to efficiently and effectively respond to crises and concerns.
Any questions about compliance with the Clery Act can be addressed to Dr. Kerry Spicer, Vice President for Student Affairs, at 716-839-8519.