Security on Campus, Inc. (now Clery Center for Security on Campus), is a national nonprofit organization whose aim is to help campuses maintain safe learning environments. It is supported by both corporate and nonprofit sponsors. To date, Clery Center has helped achieve legislation relevant to campus safety and annually compiles data on the safety of campuses across the United States. Additionally, this organization has developed materials and hosts programs to train future college students about safety issues. It also provides expert consultation to colleges and universities seeking to enhance their policies related to campus safety and hosts Clery Act training programs to ensure that staff understand and are compliant with this legislation. Finally, Clery Center provides advocacy and referral services to victims of campus crime.
The first important piece of legislation Clery Center helped enact was the 1990 Campus Security Act, renamed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act in 1998 (in memory of Clery, who was murdered in her college dorm room at age 19). The Clery Act requires institutions of higher education to release statistics on campus crime, as well as their security-related policies, to students and staff. This information must be publicized so prospective students can see it as well. Subsequently, SOC helped establish several amendments to the Clery Act. In 1992, the Campus Sexual Assault Victim’s Bill of Rights was enacted. In 2000, SOC helped secure an extension of the “Megan’s Law” notification of registered sex offenders to cover college campuses. In addition to legislation, SOC pushed Congress to dub September “National Campus Safety Awareness Month” in 2008.
An important element of Clery Center ‘s work is its searchable database, which features information about safety on campuses across the United States. The database tallies rates of eight offenses called “index offenses”: murder/non-negligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, forcible sex offenses, nonforcible sex offenses (statutory rape and incest), robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Clery Center has created several instructional videos to help campuses reduce the amount of sexual assault and stalking that takes place at institutions of higher education and to provide more useful services for victims. Actress Kristen Stewart, star of the Twilight film series, is featured in some of the videos and in a public service announcement (PSA) that Clery Center created.
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References:
- Clery Center for Security on Campus: http://clerycenter.org/