About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


1 [1] (July 31, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/gesiu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ''Congressional Research Service Inforrning the legislative debate since 1914 S Updated July 31, 2025 The Clery Act, as Amended by the Stop Campus Hazing Act The federal government requires colleges and universities to implement several institutional policies aimed at ensuring the safety and security of their students. One key federal statute that applies to postsecondary institutions is the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (Clery Act), codified in Section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The Clery Act applies to all domestic institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in HEA Title IV federal student aid programs. The law requires covered IHEs to publish a report, by October 1 of each year, disclosing campus crime statistics and campus security policies. The Department of Education (ED) has promulgated regulations implementing the law. The Clery Act was amended in December 2024 by the Stop Campus Hazing Act. As described below, under the 2024 law, IHEs must disclose additional statistics on hazing incidents, publish information on hazing prevention programs, and develop a new Campus Hazing Transparency Report (CHTR). Campus Crime Statistics The Clery Act requires covered IHEs to publish an annual security report (ASR) containing campus crime statistics for the preceding three years. Covered IHEs must share the ASRs with current students and employees, as well as with any applicants for enrollment or employment upon request. Incidents that a covered IHE must disclose in its ASR include various crimes that are reported to, or brought to the attentions of, campus security authorities or local police agencies, including murder, sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, manslaughter, and arson. This includes reports of all alleged criminal incidents, rather than only crimes for which a finding of guilt has been made. In addition, ASRs must include alleged criminal offenses reported to campus security or local police if the victim of any of the aforementioned crimes or a broader group of crimes (such as larceny-theft, simple assault, intimidation, destruction of property, or crimes involving bodily injury to a person) was selected based on race, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, or disability. The ASR must also include arrests (and referrals for campus disciplinary action) for liquor law violations and drug-related violations, as well as weapons possession. Finally, ASRs must include alleged incidents of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking reported to campus security authorities or local police. The statistics that must be published under the Clery Act must not identify persons accused of crimes or the victims of crimes. Covered IHEs may, according to ED's regulations, withhold, or later remove, reported crimes from their statistics in the rare situation where a sworn or commissioned law enforcement officer has investigated and formally determined that a crime report was false. IHEs must disclose in their ASR the total number of crime reports that were unfounded during each of the previous three years. ASRs must include incidents if they occur within what the regulations refer to as Clery geography, which means on campus, on public property within or immediately adjacent to the school, or on certain noncampus buildings or property, including property owned or controlled by an officially recognized student organization, such as officially recognized sorority or fraternity-owned chapter houses. The regulations provide that, in compiling the incidents for its crime report, an IHE must make a reasonable effort to collect statistics and is permitted to rely on information supplied by a local or state police agency. If an IHE makes a good-faith effort to do so, it is not to be held responsible for the failure of a local police agency to supply the necessary statistics. If an IHE maintains a police or security department, then that department must keep a daily security log that records all crimes reported within its patrol jurisdiction, as well as within the IHE's Clery geography. That log must be open to public inspection and include the date, time, location, and nature of each crime. IHEs must also issue timely alerts to the campus community of crimes covered by the Clery Act that are reported to campus security or local police and that constitute a threat to students and employees. The alerts must withhold the names of victims as confidential. Campus Security Policies An IHE's ASR must describe a number of school policies, including procedures available for students and others to report crimes (and how to do so on a voluntary and confidential basis) and the IHE's policies concerning its response to these reports. The ASR must also include the titles of persons or organizations to whom students and employees should report criminal offenses; policies regarding security and access to campus facilities and residences and security considerations used in facilities maintenance; policies regarding law enforcement authority on campus and agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies; a description of programs geared toward informing employees and students of security procedures and the prevention of crimes; policies regarding the enforcement of underage drinking laws and the possession, use, or sale of illegal drugs; and a statement on where to find information about registered sex offenders. ASRs must also include a statement of policies on immediate emergency response and evacuation procedures. https://crsreport