On Halloween night just after 11:00 p.m. students at the University of Memphis were alerted by text message and e-mail to an attempted robbery that happened earlier in the evening near campus. The Clery Act is the main reason for that.
Attempted robbery falls into one of the seven current categories of crimes that must be reported under the Clery Act. The law requires all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs to have a system for maintaining and reporting crime on and around their campuses.
On Oct. 20, The Department of Education published the Violence Against Women Act amendments to the Clery Act. These changes, which go into effect in July 2015, expand the rights that students have to enjoy a safer college experience.
“I think probably the most obvious change is that institutions have to have specific policies and procedures related to dating violence, domestic violence and stalking,” said Abigail Boyer, the assistant executive director of programs at the Clery Center for Security On Campus.
These policies and procedures must include programs for new students and employees, ongoing prevention education programs, and the exact procedures that must be followed when an incident occurs.
“Not only do institutions have to do prevention along these areas but it has to include primary prevention, looking at the attitudes and behaviors that allow this type of violence to occur and really engaging the campus community in being a part of that solution,” she said.
Dating violence, domestic violence and stalking have also been added to the list of crimes that must be reported under the Clery Act.
Changes to disciplinary action are also included in the recent amendments.
Boyer explained that colleges and universities will be required to provide a comprehensive list of what sanctions can be imposed for offenses.
Professionals will also be required to receive specific training in the dynamics of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
“When we’re doing our training we really talk about how it is so critical that institutions are being really clear about what rights and resources are available and that they’re building a culture in which people are comfortable coming forward because they are confident in the response they are going to receive,” she said.
Other changes include adding gender identity and national origin to the list of hate crime biases and a requirement to report how many crimes that require reporting under the Clery Act result in being “unfounded.”
Originally signed into law by President George Bush as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act in 1990, the law was renamed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act as part of a 1998 amendment to honor Jeanne Clery, who was brutally raped and murdered in her Lehigh University dorm room in 1986.
Her parents, Connie and Howard Clery, founded the Clery Center for Security On Campus in 1987 and worked to get congress to pass legislation to make crime reporting on college and university campuses more transparent to increase the safety of students. After the successful passage of the Campus Security Act, the Clery Center continues to work on not only expanding that legislation, but also to advocate for victims of campus violence.
