Shelbie Harris

Staff Writer

Idaho State University refuted claims made in a recent article in The Columbus Dispatch regarding inaccuracies in statistics posted in the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for college crime across the country.

The Clery Report is federally mandated and requires colleges and universities across the United States to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses for the previous calendar year. It is required the statistics be posted on Oct. 1 each year.

The law requiring the report is known as the Clery Act and was enacted in 1991. It is named after Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old Lehigh University freshman who was raped and murdered in her campus residence hall in 1986.

“Her parents started a crusade because they had no idea that the campus wasn’t as safe as they thought it was,” said ISU Clery Coordinator Jamie Lloyd.

“There were a whole bunch of crimes that went unreported so this process was started to get a law made requiring universities to report crimes, policies and safety measures in an annual report,” she added. 

An article recently published by The Columbus Dispatch claimed that reports on college crime are “deceptively inaccurate.”

It specifically states “the U.S. Department of Education official who oversees compliance with a federal law requiring that the statistics be posted on Oct. 1 each year admits [the statistics] are inaccurate.”

Seven major categories are to be included in the report each year including: criminal homicide, sexual offenses (both forcible and non-forcible), robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson.

According to the report, ISU statistics for each respective crime have increased annually since 2011, however the numbers remain relatively low.

For 2013, the report indicates there weren’t any reports of criminal homicide, three reports of forcible sexual assault, zero reports of robbery, two reports of aggravated assault, five reports of burglary, one report of motor vehicle theft and one report of arson.

ISU Public Safety is held responsible for collecting and analyzing the crimes reported and compiling the annual report.

“ISU reports everything that is reported to us here at Public Safety,” Lloyd said.

“We ask all local and state law enforcement agencies, student affairs and human resources departments and campus security authorities to submit any crimes that have been reported. From there we compile it into one document,” she added.

If the university fails to include any reported crimes within the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report they risk the chance of facing heavy fines and penalties from the U.S. Department of Education.

“Right now the penalty is $35,000 for each violation,” said Public Safety Director Steve Chatterton.

“That can total up to be a significant amount of money so it’s in the best interest of the university to report the crimes accurately,” Chatterton continued.

ISU Public Safety reportedly works in close partnership with Student Housing to ensure a safe living environment is maintained.

There are over 500 campus authorities on campus including club advisers, coaches, deans and directors of departments and resident assistants.

Every campus authority and housing staff member attends a training session with the Public Safety office each year to ensure understanding of all policies and procedures.

“We work closely with student housing and other departments on campus,” said Chatterton.

“Our presence, our crime prevention programs and all the things we do on campus plays a part in the lower statistics that we have,” he continued.

In regard to the article posted by The Columbus Dispatch claiming universities purposely underreport crime information included in the Clery Report, ISU remained adamant this was not the case.

“We’re not willing to run the risk because the fines are too huge. If you look at the history of universities who have been caught it’s not worth putting the university at risk,” said Clery Team Member Michelle Ward.

Students interested in viewing the report can visit www.isu.edu/pubsafe/security/Annual_Security_and_Fire_Safety_Report.pdf.

Next year’s Clery Report will be posted on Oct. 1 2015.