The Clery Act is a college journalist’s holy grail to reporting on campus crime. The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act, or the Clery Act for short, requires that schools participating in federal student aid funding notify the campus when a crime has been reported. Virtually every college and university… Continue reading How to use the Clery Act to cover campus crime
Before school and college officials can give notice that a potentially dangerous person is enrolled, they have to be aware themselves. But there's no standard protocol for notifying schools or college when one of their students is accused of a crime.
Colleges were required to release their annual Clery Act campus crime report on Oct. 1. Here are some tips on finding the best stories.
The study also published survey results of 56 police officers from Texas colleges responding to questions related to their understanding of stalking and official procedures to address it. The answers from respondents — most of them identified as police chiefs — show that seven out of 10 did not have specific guidelines at their institution for dealing with stalking cases, and that few of them work with off-campus organizations that help victims of stalking.
New rules that change what colleges have to do under the Clery Act were published today. The new regulations — the result of months of discussions and negotiations following the 2013 passage of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act — are designed to lend greater transparency to the process by which colleges respond to crimes of sexual violence affecting students.
How well does your school comply with the Clery Act? We've assembled this guide to help you find out. In it are instructions, sample records requests and a checklist of basic requirements your school should be meeting.
A year ago, Jordan Bradley detailed in the SPLC Report how student journalists at Otterbein University have had difficulty gaining access to campus police reports.The troubles started in 2011, when the Ohio school's security team was converted into a commissioned police force, said Hillary Warren, who advises The Tan & Cardinal. Then, campus police began responding to incidents that city police once handled. At first, campus police didn't release any records, even those required under the Jeanne Clery Act, Warren told us.
Last week, the Department of Education issued its preliminary report, part of its investigation into whether Pennsylvania State University violated the Clery Act in its handling of allegations of sexual abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. It will likely be years, though, before the public learns what the department uncovered in its far-reaching review of campus safety practices at the school since 1998 — one of the largest and most high-profile investigations ever.The reason for the secrecy is two-fold. A federal law requires the Department of Education to maintain the confidentiality of any program reviews until the final program report is issued.
In just a little over a month, journalists across the country will celebrate open government in action. Held annually in March, Sunshine Week is a chance for journalists to demonstrate to lawmakers and the public the importance of open government and easy access to public records.In the past, the Student Press Law Center has teamed up with student journalists across the country on public records projects.
There's nowhere left for Oklahoma State University to hide.The man in charge of interpreting the federal student privacy law for more than two decades, LeRoy Rooker, told the Tulsa World in an interview this week that Oklahoma State was under no legal requirement to withhold information about campus sexual assaults from the police.Rooker's interpretation flatly contradicts Oklahoma State legal counsel Gary Clark's insistence that the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA") forbade the university from alerting campus police about a string of reported sex crimes by a 22-year-old OSU senior.The student, Nathan Cochran, was charged Dec.