It’s been 25 years since the Clery Center for Security On Campus opened its doors to prevent violence and assist victims of crime on U.S. college campuses. One of the organization’s primary areas of focus has been to encourage institutions of higher education to more accurately report incidents that occur in their communities. Probably the most significant step towards achieving this goal was the 1990 passage of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. The Clery Act requires colleges and universities to publish and distribute annual campus security reports to their current and prospective students and employees. The reports must list the number and types of incidents that have occurred in their campus communities.
Additionally, the Clery Center and other professional training organizations have been providing campuses with education on how to comply with the law.
These efforts, along with the passage of time, have resulted in more campuses reporting crimes, according to Clery Center Executive Director Alison Kiss. Despite this progress, sex offenses continue to be underreported.
“Campuses need to look at the campus culture around sex offenses,” Kiss says. “This can be done through a climate survey. If students do not know where or how to get help, they might not ask for it. If students know how to report and seek help, they will break the culture of silence.”
Although the general public and campus administrators might be tempted to believe that a higher rate of sexual assaults reported in a campus’ annual security report would reflect poorly on an institution (meaning it is less safe), Kiss claims a campus could actually be safer when more incidents are reported.
“If a campus has higher reported statistics, it most likely reflects a culture where students report because they have confidence in the assistance they are receiving,” she says.
Sexual Assault Response Teams & Software Can Help
The campuses that generally do the best job of reporting take a collaborative approach to Clery compliance. This includes having a sexual assault response team handle cases so campuses don’t duplicate their efforts, which could confuse victims and discourage reporting.
Software specifically designed for Clery reporting can also help with compliance.
“Collecting and monitoring reports is quite a bit of work, so certainly systems that provide solutions, confidentiality and directions for follow-through can be useful,” Kiss says.
She warns, however, that one size does not fit every campus. Each institution’s needs vary.
Top Administrators Must Support Compliance
One of the biggest barriers to abiding by the Clery Act is not technical, but institutional support. Often public safety administrators or other department staff are the only officials on campus who truly understand the importance of accurate incident reporting.
“The responsibilities for Jeanne Clery Act compliance should not fall on the shoulders of a sole person within the institution,” Kiss claims. “Institutions need to embrace a holistic approach to compliance with top-down/bottom-up support. It is very difficult to collect statistics, write policy and coordinate prevention from one office. Campuses need a team approach to not only comply with the letter of the law but embrace the spirit of the law.”
In an attempt to mandate compliance, the U.S. Department of Education has recently stepped up the number of audits it conducts of campus incident reporting efforts. News about non-compliance has also prompted institutions to pay more attention to the issue. Still, Kiss believes fines and scare tactics don’t do a very good job of encouraging compliance with the Clery Act.
Instead, she recommends those in the know about the law and its implications should, with the support of the school president and vice president, make presentations to their institution’s board of trustees to inform them about the importance of the Clery Act and campus safety in general.
“Campus safety is a community issue,” she says. “For police, public safety and campus security to be effective in response and prevention, they need the support of senior administration.”
