Complying with the Clery Act

Briget Biernat JansDirector of Financial Aid Compliance

DePaul University

Agenda Background Basic Requirements Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act

(VAWA) Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act What to Check Best Practices Resources

Background Campus safety requirements in the HEA

Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990 1992 Amendments added policies on sex offenses to

the annual security report 1998 Amendments expanded requirements and

renamed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act)

2008 again expanded the requirements “Campus SaVE” provisions of the Violence Against

Women Act (VAWA) will be added October 2014

Background Law

Section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act Regulations

34 Code of Federal Regulations § 668 Subpart D

Clery Act Compliance is monitored by ED

Civil penalties up to $35,000 per violation Non-compliance can lead to suspension from FSA

programs Separate team in Washington focused on monitoring

Conduct campus crime program reviews

Compliance required of all public and private postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV Requirement begins on effective date of PPA

Basic Requirements The Clery Act requires all schools to:

Collect, classify, and count crime reports and crime statistics

Publish and actively distribute an annual security report that contains all statistical and policy disclosures

Submit crime statistics to ED Issue Timely Warnings and Emergency

Notifications

Basic Requirements Requirement: Collect, classify, and count crime

reports and crime statistics Currently three crime categories (VAWA adds 4th)

Basic Requirements Requirement: Collect, classify, and count

crime reports and crime statistics Disclose reported offenses, regardless of whether

someone is found guilty “Reported” = brought to the attention of a campus

security authority or local law enforcement personnel

Crimes may be reported anonymously or not, but PII must not be included in statistics

Count attempted and completed crimes Reasonable, good faith effort to obtain crime

statistics from local law enforcement

Basic Requirements Requirement: Collect, classify, and count

crime reports and crime statistics Hate crimes are motivated by the offender’s category

of bias

Arrests, referrals for disciplinary action based on violations of weapons, drug, liquor laws, not institutional policies

**Added per Matthew Shephard Act, 2009

Race Gender Religion Sexual orientation

Ethnicity/national origin

Disability Perceived gender** Gender identity**

Basic Requirements Requirement: Publish and distribute annual

security report Must publish report by October 1 each year Must be contained within a single document Must include:

three calendar year’s of campus crime statistics

All required current campus safety and security policies and procedures

Basic Requirements Requirement: Publish and distribute annual

security report Must distribute to all current students & employees

Directly by mail, hand delivery, or e-mail or By posting on an Internet or intranet site that is reasonably

accessible to current students, employees

If you post online, you must distribute a notice by October 1 with statement of report’s availability, exact URL, a description of contents, and statement that paper copy is available upon request

Basic Requirements Requirement: Publish and distribute

annual security report Must actively notify prospective students and

employees about the availability of report. Notice must include description of the report’s contents and how to obtain paper copy Must provide a copy of the ASR upon request If posted on website, notice must include URL

where ASR is posted For prospective students and employees,

an intranet site is not sufficient

Basic Requirements Requirement: Submit crime statistics to ED

Report campus crime statistics for the 3 most-recent calendar years

Must match the statistical disclosures that were published in the annual security report

Deadline for completing the web-based data collection is specified by the Secretary annually– typically mid-October

Collected data posted on OPE’s Data Analysis Cutting Tool (linked to College Navigator) for public use

Basic Requirements Requirement: Issue Timely Warnings and

Emergency Notifications Must issue campus alerts to provide members of

campus community with information necessary to make informed decisions about health and safety

Two kinds of alerts Timely warnings issued for crimes that represent a

threat to the safety of students or employees Emergency notifications are issued upon the

confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation on campus involving immediate threat to health or safety

Basic Requirements

Basic Requirements Requirement: Issue Timely Warnings and

Emergency Notifications Annual security report must Include policy statements

on both timely warnings and emergency response and notification procedures

All policy statements must accurately reflect policies and procedures currently used at the institution

FERPA does not preclude compliance with the timely warning provision Emergency exception to FERPA allows for PII disclosure

to protect the health and safety of others Law enforcement records are not protected by FERPA

Basic Requirements Additional requirements:

Institutions with campus police or security departments must additionally maintain a daily crime log

Institutions with on-campus student housing facilities must additionally Disclose missing student notification procedures

that pertain to students residing in those facilities

Comply with fire safety requirements

Basic Requirements Requirement: Daily Crime Log A daily record of criminal and alleged criminal

incidents reported to campus police or security department All crimes on Clery geography or within patrol

jurisdiction of the campus police/security department Not just Clery Act crimes Records nature, date the crime was reported, time,

date, general location, and disposition (if known) of each crime

Basic Requirements

Basic Requirements Requirement: Daily Crime Log

Log must be available Must be accessible on-site (written or electronic) Available upon request for public inspection during business

hours (most recent 60 days available immediately; older records available within two business days)

Must be available without payment or written request

Log must be maintained Must make additions or updates to an entry within two

business days Update disposition up to 60 days from when crime

was entered in the log Schools must archive log for seven years

Basic Requirements Requirement: Missing Student Notification

Annual security report must Include policy statement addressing missing student notification for students residing in on-campus student housing

Include the procedures institution will follow if any of those students is determined to be missing for 24 hours

Must give students living in on-campus student housing facilities the option to register confidential contact information Confidential information must be kept separate from general

emergency contact information Only authorized campus officials may have access to

the information Information may only be disclosed to law enforcement in

furtherance of a missing person investigation

Basic Requirements

Requirement: Fire Safety Policies and Statistics 4 components

Publish and distribute annual fire safety report Submit fire statistics to ED Maintain log of reported fires Conduct safety drills

Basic Requirements Requirement: Publish an annual fire safety report

Must publish annual fire safety report by October 1 each year

Report must include: Fire statistics Current fire safety policies and procedures

Annual fire safety report and annual security report May be published separately or together If separately, specify how to access the other

report in each one

Basic Requirements Requirement: Submit fire statistics to ED

Must annually submit 3 years worth of statistics to ED Reported via same web-based collection tool as campus

crime statistics Includes statistics for each on-campus student housing facility

Statistics include: Number and cause of each fire Number of persons with fire-related injuries resulting in

treatment at a medical facility Number of deaths related to a fire Value of property damage

Basic Requirements Requirement: Maintain log of reported fires

Record of any fire that occurs in an on-campus student housing facility Records nature, date the fire was reported, time,

date, nature, and general location of each fire Must be written and easily understood

Annual report to the campus community on fires recorded in the log

Basic Requirements Requirement: Maintain log of reported fires

Log must be available Must be accessible on-site (written or electronic) Available upon request for public inspection during business hours (most

recent 60 days available immediately; older records available within two business days)

Must be available without payment or written request

Log must be maintained Must make additions or updates to an entry within 2 business days Update disposition up to 60 days from when entered in the log Schools must archive log for seven years

May be combined with the daily crime log Label it well so users know it is both a crime and fire log Ensure that it contains the required elements for both logs

VAWA Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act

of 2013 (Pub. Law 113-4) Enacted March 7th, 2013 Amended the Clery Act Requires institutions to compile statistics for

certain crimes reported to campus security authorities or local police agencies

Requires institutions to include certain policies, procedures, and programs about these crimes in their annual security reports

VAWA Affects annual security reports and crime

statistics reported to ED beginning fall 2014 ED is in the process of implementing these

changes Until final regs issued, institutions must make

a good faith effort to comply with the statute Final of three Negotiated Rulemaking Committee

meetings was held earlier this week

VAWA October 2014 – Institutions complete annual

security reports and report to ED using good faith effort

GOAL - Final regulations published by November 1, 2014 July 2015 – Final regulations become effective

October 2015 – Institutions complete annual security reports and report statistics to ED under final regulations

VAWA New requirements

Additional statistics Sexual assault Domestic violence Dating violence Stalking

Prevention programs and awareness campaigns Victim’s bill of rights Revises requirements around institutional

disciplinary proceedings

Drug-Free Schools & Communities Act

Implemented in 34 CFR Part 86 Institutions must certify they have developed

and implemented drug and alcohol abuse education and prevention program Must be designed to prevent the unlawful possession,

use, and distribution of drugs and alcohol on campus and at recognized events and activities

Institutions must distribute certain information to students and employees annually

Must do a biennial review of the program

Drug-Free Schools & Communities Act Annual disclosure

Must share information with current students, employees

34 CFR § 86.100 outlines the information that must be included: Standards of conduct prohibiting the possession, use,

and distribution of drugs and alcohol Possible sanctions for violations of Federal, state,

and local drug and alcohol laws, as well as sanctions for violation of institutional policies

Drug-Free Schools & Communities Act Annual disclosure

Must include (cont’d) Health risks associated with the use of drugs and

alcohol Information on counseling, rehabilitation, and

treatment programs Clear statement that school will impose sanctions on

students and employees who violate drug and alcohol laws, ordinances, and/or institutional policies

Drug-Free Schools & Communities Act Biennial Review

Objectives Determine the effectiveness of your drug and

alcohol abuse prevention program Ensure consistent enforcement of applicable laws,

ordinances, and institutional policies against violators

The biennial review report and supporting documents must be maintained and made available to ED upon request

What to Check Make sure that your school has an Annual

Security Report Is it accurate and complete? Was it distributed properly?

Review campus security policies Do the policies pass the reasonableness test? Use what you know about ED’s standards for policy

development

Take a look at the crime log Does your school have one? Is it accessible to the public?

Best Practices Appoint and empower a Clery Act Compliance Officer Develop an understanding of “Clery Geography” Identify and train “Campus Security Authorities” Specifically inform students and employees about how

to report crimes and emergencies Check crime statistics for similar schools using the

“Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool” http://www.ope.ed.gov/security/

Resources The Handbook for Campus Safety and

Security Reporting (revised February 2011) http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/handbook.pdf

Handbook Help Desk Clarifications – see 3/26/12 communication

https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/security/HelpDeskEmailView.aspx

1-800-435-5985 or HandbookQuestions@ed.gov

Resources ED Campus Safety website (includes a

training video) http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/camp

us.html Federal Student Aid Self-Assessment of

Clery Compliance http://ifap.ed.gov/qahome/qaassessments/co

nsumerinformation.html Federal Student Aid Data Center – Clery

Act Reports (see compliance reviews) http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/datacenter/cle

ryact.html

Resources 5/29/2013 Electronic Announcement with

preliminary guidance http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/052913Implement

ofChangesMade2CleryActViolenceAgainstWomenReauthorizationAct2013.html

Questions?

Contact information

Briget Jansbjans@depaul.edu

312-362-8348