ED Publishes New Clery Handbook
7/11/2016
The Jeanne Clery Act, a consumer protection law passed in 1990 amending the Higher Education Act (HEA), requires all colleges and universities that receive federal funding to share information about crime on campus and their efforts to improve campus safety with the Department of Education and the public.
In late June, the Department of Education published a revision to The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting, which provides interpretations and guidance to assist institutions in understanding and meeting the various HEA requirements. This is the first update to the handbook since 2011. Staff with Clery responsibilities are encouraged to review the handbook in its entirety.
While the handbook provides updates on previous Clery reporting elements, the most notable change is the addition of new requirements included in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which includes many requirements related to dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Specifically, the changes to Clery by VAWA include:
- Disclosure of statistics of the number of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking incidents.
- Disclosure of statistics of new categories of hate crimes.
- Implementation by institutions and disclosure of programs to prevent dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
- Disclosure of procedures victims should follow if one of the crimes listed above occurs.
- Implementation by institutions and disclosure of procedures for institutional disciplinary action in cases of those crimes.
On July 7, The Clery Center for Security on Campus held a webinar highlighting key points in the new handbook. A recording of the webinar is available on YouTube.
