Final Rules of Clery Act for Campus Safety Announced

Today, the final rules of the Clery Act were published by the U.S. Department of Education. The Clery Act requires all colleges and universities to collect and report all crime statistics in regards to the number of crimes that are reported to be unfounded. Incidents of that nature were not required to be reported previously, so colleges and universities are required to go back three calendar years to report properly.

“It allows us to better monitor what crimes are being reported, see the extend that reporting is being abused and provide technical assistance.” States Lynn Mahaffie, acting assistant secretary for postsecondary education. She says of the new requirements, “That’s the biggest change we’ve made.”

These new rules focus on more than just sexual assault now and will receive reports on incidents of dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. Any disciplinary actions taken must also be included in the reports for each violation and how officials came to decide upon the action. Taking the reporting a step further, schools will also report their annual security reports, incidents of stalking with details of location and duration.

American Association of University Women, Lisa Goodnight, says, “I think the fact that we’re going to be paying attention to dating violence and stalking is a wonderful step forward. When we talk about sexual gender-based violence on campus, we’re not often talking about the bogeyman jumping out of the bushes on the college green so this is a much more realistic way to look at these crimes.”