The SAFER Policies Database Project (the Database) was created as an interactive tool for users to search for their school’s sexual assault policy and for information on disciplinary hearings. In addition to a legal analysis, the Database provides comments on specific positive and negative elements of various school policies.
After the passage of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), all colleges participating in federal Title IV student aid programs are required to maintain and publish campus crime statistics. More than likely your school does participate in such programs.
Pursuant to the Clery Act, the school has both mandatory and ongoing requirements in order to be compliant. The school must develop, disclose and implement security policies. One question to consider is whether your school has an individual or office designated to ensure that the security policies are actively implemented as described? In addition to this requirement, the school must have designated campus security authorities. Is there a person or office responsible for overseeing campus security authorities and ensuring the collection of crime reports?
When there is a security issue, the school must provide Timely Warnings. Details on timely warnings include whether there is an individual or office responsible for issuing timely warnings? What are the methods for disseminating timely warnings? Is there communication with local police requesting their cooperation in informing the institution about crimes reported to them that may warrant timely warnings? If your school maintains a campus police or security department a daily crime log is mandatory. Questions to consider include whether your school has a hard copy or electronic crime log that records incidents by the date reported that includes: a) the nature of the crime? b) the date and time the crime occurred? c) the general location of the crime? d) the disposition of the complaint, if known? Is there public access to the log? Is/Are there individual(s) responsible for maintaining the log on a daily basis?
Your campus is part of a larger community. In both campus organizing and evaluating policies and disciplinary procedures, you or your group should consider the relationship between your school and the local police. In fact, pursuant to the Clery Act your school should have statistics from the local police. Consider if your school has an individual or office responsible for requesting crime stats from local and state police? Is there documentation of the school’s efforts to obtain the stats and documentation of any noncompliance on behalf of the police? Does the school gather statistics from all the appropriate police agencies w/in the jurisdiction of the school?
Your school must submit an Annual Security Report to the Department of Education. Most schools include this information on their website under a Security section, if not available online, the Annual Security Report is usually available through a written request to your school.
If you or your group have any questions concerning the Policies Database project please contact SAFER and we will be happy to respond to your inquiries. For more information on the legal implications of the Clery Act, FERPA and Title IX, please see our database.
[...] law that protects student privacy – FERPA – while the former student, Annie Hylton, argued that the Clery Act supersedes FERPA in making the final determination of a college or university disciplinary process [...]