Committee Corner: Clery Act Primer

Although useful, law

still has loopholes

By ROGER SOENKSEN, Media Law Committee Chair

After the death of their daughter, Jeanne Clery, at Lehigh University, the Clerys lobbied for federal legislation which would mandate that college campuses across the United States would keep their students informed of campus crime.  As a direct result of their efforts Congress passed The Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act.  This legislation in 1998 was re-titled the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.  We refer to this law as the Clery Act.  This article will briefly discuss the key components of this important statute as well as its weaknesses.

The Clery Act
The Clery Act requires that campus security departments maintain a crime log of all offenses committed on campus and to distribute an annual report of crime statistics. In 2008, as a result of the Virginia Tech shootings, the Clery Act was expanded to include the publishing of an emergency response plan and to "immediately notify the campus community upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation."

The face value of such legislation leads one to believe that this law would clearly aid campus publications to have current information to disseminate to their fellow students. Unfortunately, when we look at the reality on some college campuses we find problems.

The Loopholes
The statute requires logs to be kept current with reports updated within two days of any relevant incidents.  However, colleges frequently fail to meet the reporting deadlines. The SPLC in "Campus Crimes Slip Through Cracks," stated that Middle Tennessee State University had their crime log not updated for nearly three weeks and 418 crime reports were missing from the campus crime logs.

Some universities have not only had problems keeping their logs current under the letter of the law, but also have filed annual reports riddled with inconsistencies. For example, the SPLC reported on an October 22 audit of the State University of New York system by the New York State Comptroller's Office. The audit found inconsistencies in 19 out of the 29 colleges between the crime statistics published in the annual security report and the reports submitted to the Department of Education. One common error was misclassification of criminal acts. The Clery Act defines reportable crimes and provides specific guidance on how crimes are to be recorded.  However, the audit found universities reporting burglaries as simple theft or larceny.

We also see problems in the "timely notification" of students. Most campuses have installed text message alerts, e-mail notifications, and public address systems. These systems have been tested and the results reveal glitches. Students have reported that text messages weren't received and public address announcements weren't heard.

Conclusion
The Clery Act is a valuable tool providing information to students and employees regarding campus crime statistics. This statute is, however, open to misreporting and mislabeling of criminal activities. We also have found institutions that fail to update logs and publish annual reports, providing an inaccurate picture of dangerous campus activities. Our campus publications need to understand the law and to check to see if their institution's campus security is complying with the statute. The media must use all the tools at their disposal, e.g., feature stories on the law, editorials when criticism is warranted, etc. to help the public understand the need to comply with this important campus security bill. The student press is one independent check on campus security divisions' adherence with this law.  Hopefully, by understanding the law, common errors in reporting, and using the campus media outlets to keep constituencies informed, the student press can aid in creating a safe and secure campus

Roger Soenksen is a professor at James Madison University, and he is chairman of the College Media Advisers' Media Law Committee.