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Understand the Clery Act & VAWA, ensure campus safety, avoid penalties. Learn crime statistics reporting & school obligations. Practical advice for higher education officials.
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Session 32 Complying with the Clery Act Jim Moore | December 2014 U.S. Department of Education 2014 FSA Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals
Disclaimer This presentation provides general information about the Clery Act and the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. It does not represent a complete recitation of the applicable law or ED/FSA policies in this area and is for discussion purposes only. This presentation must not be used for any other purpose. Actual compliance determinations must be made after a careful analysis of specific facts on a case-by-case basis.
Agenda Working Title: Compliance with the Clery Act: Campus Crime, Fire Safety, and VAWA: Practical Advice for Higher Education Officials • Background/History of the Clery Act • (Quick) Note on Related Issues: FERPA; Title IX • Clery Act Basics • Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) • “10 Things That You Need To Know About VAWA” • Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act • Resources – 2014Resource Sheet • Questions
Background & History of the Clery Act Campus safety requirements in the HEA starts with the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990 • 1992 HEA Amendments first added policies on sex offenses • 1998 HEA Amendments expanded the requirements and renamed the law - Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) • 2000 - Victims of Trafficking Act (Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act) • 2008 - HEOA expanded the requirements (Emergency Notification) • 2013 - “Campus SaVE” provisions (Section 304) of VAWA • Legislation: 20 USC § 1092(f) • Regulations: 34 C.F.R. §§ 668.14, 666.16, 668.41, 668.46, and 668.49
Monitoring and Enforcement Federal Student Aid monitors & enforces the Clery Act & conducts campus crime program reviews as well as complaint and media assessments. Possible consequences of review findings: • Fines - up to $35,000 per offense • Limitation, suspension, or termination of the eligibility for student financial aid programs; denial of recertification or revocation of a provisional Program Participation Agreement Special Note: The Secretary “shall impose” a civil penalty for any Clery Act violation that rises to the level of a “significant misrepresentation.”
Clery Basics Theme: Moving From Compliance To Excellence! The Clery Act campus safety and crime prevention provisions require all* schools to: • Collect and classify crime reports and compile crime statistics • Publish and actively distribute an annual security report (ASR) that contains all required statistical and policy disclosures • Submit crime statistics to ED • Issue Timely Warnings and Emergency Notifications
Clery Basics – Crime Classifications Collect and classify crime reports and compile crime statistics • Before VAWA, Clery included three broad categories of crime:
Clery Basics – Hate Crimes Collect and classify crime reports and compile crime statistics • Hate crimes are motivated by the offender’s category of bias • **Added to the Clery Act by the Matthew Shephard Act, 2009 • Arrests and referrals for disciplinary action are based on violations of weapons, drug, and liquor laws, not of institution policies • Race • Gender • Religion • Sexual orientation • Ethnicity/national origin • Disability • Perceived gender** • Gender identity**
Clery Basics - What’s New • VAWA Crime Categories - New Definitions, A New Approach to Campus Sexual Assault • Rape and Forcible Fondling • Dating Violence • Domestic Violence • Stalking (including cyber-stalking)
Clery Basics - Crime Statistics Collect and classify crime reports and compile crime statistics • Schools disclose reported offenses, regardless of whether or not the alleged perpetrator is found guilty • “Reported” = brought to the attention of a campus security authority or local law enforcement personnel • Count both attempted and completed crimes • Make a reasonable, good faith effort to obtain crime statistics from local law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction over all parts of your Clery geography • Crimes may be reported anonymously per institutional policy – never include PII in the ASR and/or crime statistics
Clery Basics - “Clery Geography” Clery Geography Defined: • Campus I: any building or property owned or controlled by an institution within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area and is used by the institution in direct support of, or in a manner related to, its educational purposes, incl. Residence halls • Campus II: any building or property that is within or reasonably contiguous to the area identified above that is owned by the institution but is controlled by another person, is frequently used by students, and supports institutional purposes (such as food or other retail vendor)
Clery Basics - “Clery Geography” • Non-campus building or property: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution; or (2) any building or property (other than a separate campus) owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the institution’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students, and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area • Public Property: All public property including thoroughfares, streets, sidewalks, and parking facilities, that is within the campus, or immediately adjacent to or accessible from the campus
Clery Basics - Campus Security Authority • Members of a campus law enforcement or public safety entity • Any individual who has responsibility for campus safety but is not part of a campus law enforcement or public safety department or presence (hall monitors; parking attendants) • Any official of an institution who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, but does not have significant counseling responsibilities Actual professional & pastoral counselors are exempt Note: Special considerations for institutions specializing in counseling or affiliated with churches/religious orders
Clery Basics - ASR Publish and Distribute an ASR • Must publish the annual security report by October 1 each year • Report must be contained within a single document • Report must include: • Three calendar year’s of campus crime statistics • All required current campus safety and security policies and procedures**
Clery Basics - ASR Publish and distribute an ASR • Must distribute the annual security report to all enrolled students and current 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 and employees* • *If you post the annual security report online, you must distribute a notice by October 1st with statement of report’s availability, exact URL, a description of contents, and statement that paper copy is available upon request
Clery Basics - ASR Publish and distribute an ASR • Must actively notify prospective students and employees about the availability of the ASR. The notice must include a description of the report’s contents and explain how to obtain a paper copy • Must provide a copy of the ASR upon request • If posted on an internet site, notice must also include exact URL where ASR is posted • For prospective students and employees, information may not be posted on an intranet site
Clery Basics – ED Annual Survey Submit crime statistics to ED • Institutions report campus crime statistics for the three 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 each year – typically mid-October • Collected data are posted on OPE’s Data Analysis Cutting Tool (linked to College Navigator) for public use
Clery Basics - Safety Alerts Issue Timely Warnings and Emergency Notifications • Institutions must issue campus safety alerts to provide students and employees with timely information about ongoing threats due to crime or other dangerous conditions • Two kinds of alerts: • Timely warnings are issued for crimes that may pose a serious ongoing threat • Emergency notifications are issued upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation that may pose an immediate threat to health or safety
Clery Basics - Safety Alerts Issue Timely Warnings & Emergency Notifications
Clery Basics - Special Considerations Additional requirements: • Institutions with a campus police or security presence** must additionally maintain a daily crime log • Institutions with on-campus student housing facilities must additionally: • Develop and implement missing student notification procedures that pertain to students residing in those facilities and include them in the ASR • Comply with fire safety requirements
Clery Basics – Crime Log Daily Crime Log • Log is a daily record of criminal and alleged criminal incidents reported to the campus police or security personnel • 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
Clery Basics – Crime Log 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 (record-retention requirement)
Clery Basics - Missing Students Missing Student Notification • Include a statement in the ASR that addresses missing student notification procedures that will apply when a it is determined that a student that resides in on-campus student housing has been missing for 24 hours • Students must be given the opportunity to register a confidential contact with the institution • Confidential information for this purpose must be kept separate from general emergency contact information • Only authorized officials may have access to the information • Such information may only be disclosed to law enforcement in furtherance of a missing person investigation
Clery Basics - Fire Safety Fire Safety Policies and Statistics • Three primary compliance areas: • Annual fire safety report • Submit fire statistics to ED • Fire log
Clery Basics - Fire Safety Publish an Annual Fire Safety Report (AFSR) • Must publish and actively distribute AFSR by October 1st • Report must include: • Fire statistics • Current fire safety policies and procedures • must be a single, comprehensive report • Annual fire safety report and annual security report • May be published separately or together • If published separately, specify how to access the other report in each one
Clery Basics - Fire Safety Submit fire statistics to ED • Must submit fire statistics for three most-recent calendar years • Collected via the same web-based collection tool as the campus crime statistics • Includes statistics for each on-campus student housing facility – if questions arise about ownership or whether a housing unit is actually on-campus, please consult with the Clery Division – clery@ed.gov • Statistics include: • Number and cause of each fire • Number of persons with injuries related to a fire that resulted in treatment at a medical facility • Number of deaths related to a fire • Value of property damage
Clery Basics – Fire Safety Fire Log • Fire log is a record of any fire that occurs in an on-campus student housing facility • Records nature, date the crime 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
Clery Basics – Fire Safety Fire 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 • The fire log 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 (VAWA) • Enacted March 7, 2013 • Final Rule issued on October 20, 2014 http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/102014ViolenceAgainstWomenAct.html • Requires expanded reporting for incidents of sexual assault (rape and forcible fondling), dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking (including cyber-stalking) • Requires that the ASR include additional information about policies, procedures, and training programs aimed at sexual assault prevention and response
VAWA New Programmatic and Training Requirements include: • Awareness Campaigns – Ongoing Requirement • Primary Prevention • Risk Reduction and Bystander Intervention • Specialized Training for Adjudication Officials Statutory changes affect school’s ASRs began October 1, 2014. Per Master Calendar, final regulations will be effective July 1, 2015.Until then, institutions must make a good faith effort to comply with the statute - Compliance with Clery will NEVER cause an institution to violate FERPA and/or Title IX.
Clery Resources • Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting (revised February 2011; New edition will include VAWA guidance) • http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/handbook.pdf • Handbook Help Desk • HandbookQuestions@ed.gov • 1-800-435-5985 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published 6/20/2014 • https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/06/20/2014-14384/violence-against-women-act • DCL GEN-14-13 – Good-Faith Effort!
Drug-Free Schools & Communities Act Implemented by 34 CFR Part 86 (Part 86) • Requires institutions to certify that they have developed and implemented a drug and alcohol abuse education and prevention program (DAAPP) – completed through the PPA • The program must be designed to prevent the unlawful possession, use, and distribution of drugs and alcohol on campus and at recognized events and activities • As part of the program, institutions must distribute certain information to students and employees annually • Institutions must do a biennial review of the program
Drug-Free Schools & Communities Act Annual disclosure • Must share information with current students and 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 • Health risks associated with the use of drugs and alcohol • Information on counseling, rehabilitation, and treatment programs • A clear statement that the 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 are: • To determine the effectiveness of your drug and alcohol abuse prevention program • To ensure consistent enforcement of applicable laws, ordinances, and institutional policies against violators • The biennial review report and supporting documents must be maintained by the school and made available to the Department upon request Special Note* The DFSCA requirements are stackable/cumulative i.e., if an institution fails to develop and implement a substantive DAAPP, the institution CANNOT comply with the other requirements
Best Practices • Appoint and empower a Clery Act/Part 86 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” • Develop a VAWA Implementation/Integration Plan
How You Can Help! Make sure that your school has an ASR • Is it accurate and complete? • Was it distributed properly? Review your school’s campus security policies • Do the policies pass the “smell test?” • Use what you know about ED’s standards for policy development Take a look at your school’s crime log • Does your school have one? • Is it accessible to the public?
QUESTIONS? Jim Moore Clery Act Compliance Team james.moore@ed.gov or clery@ed.gov