Calif. Auditors Find Colleges Not Complying with Clery Act
None of the six institutions of higher ed that were audited were fully compliant. VAWA policy statements pose challenges.
A study released July 16 by the California State Auditor has found that when it comes to the Clery Act, none of the six institutions of higher education that were audited were fully compliant with the law.
Additionally, “Five of the six institutions reported inaccurate crime statistics, and only one of the six institutions disclosed all of the required policies in its annual security report,” the audit claims.
The review also found that policy statements related to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) of 2013 were the most frequently incomplete or missing disclosures in the institutions’ reports.
The colleges that were audited included Fresno City College, San Francisco State University, Shasta College, Stanford University, University of California, San Diego and University of Redlands.
The auditor’s office also surveyed 79 campuses that didn’t report any criminal offenses for 2013. The review was to determine if those institutions had adequate processes in place for compiling and distributing their crime statistics.
“Although most of the 79 respondents indicated that they provide a link on their websites to their security policies and annual crime statistics, some did not state that they take all the steps required to ensure that their students and employees are aware that these reports are available,” the report claims. “For example, 77 percent of the respondents to our survey indicated that their institution’s website includes direct links to their policies and statistics. However, 21 percent of these respondents did not indicate that they notify their current students and employees by email, publication, or other means of their campus security policies and annual crime statistics as the Clery Act requires.”
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The audit goes on to recommend further guidance from the University of California Office of the President, California State University Office of the Chancellor and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office due to colleges throughout the state experiencing similar issues since 2002 when the audits were first conducted. The report says the current guidance from these offices varies significantly and can be better.
“In addition, although the U.S. DOE is responsible for overseeing these institutions’ compliance with the Clery Act, it did not issue any completed reports on Clery Act program reviews of California institutions between 2011 and 2014,” the report claims. “Further, the State does not currently have an entity or other governing body to provide guidance to institutions, including private institutions, that would help ensure their compliance with the requirements of the Clery Act and the Reauthorization Act.”
The report recommends California’s Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General provide more guidance on Clery compliance for public and private institutions.
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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