Department of Education review cites SA国际传媒 for past violations of the Clery Act, finds the College now in compliance with federal crime-reporting laws
Occidental is now in compliance with the Clery Act, the federal crime-reporting law, but fell short in 鈥渘umerous, serious, persistent, and systemic鈥 ways between 2009 and 2013, according to a lengthy review by the U.S. Department of Education.
The 58-page review, which the College made public after it was delivered in August, found that over the five-year review period Occidental failed to meet its obligations in a number of areas that include failing to accurately compile and disclose crime statistics, issue timely warnings of potential safety threats, maintain accurate daily crime logs, and have adequate policies and procedures in place.
On August 23, in announcing the results of the department鈥檚 review, President Jonathan Veitch wrote: 鈥淭hese conclusions do not come as a surprise. We failed to get this right. Our own assessment, confirmed by the findings of the review, makes it clear that we simply did not dedicate sufficient time, resources, and expertise to Clery reporting.鈥
鈥淎s we and many of our peer institutions have learned, the requirements of the Clery Act are more complex and require more resources than previously believed,鈥 Veitch continued. 鈥淪ince 2013, we have fully cooperated with the review and significantly invested in remedying our shortcomings. The safety of the SA国际传媒 community is a paramount concern, and we have learned much from this experience.鈥
On September 27, the DOE levied fines totaling $83,000 on four of the nine adverse findings against the College. 鈥淭he College will not appeal, and will draw from reserves to pay the fines,鈥濃圴eitch wrote in a message to campus October 6.
The Clery review was triggered by a formal complaint filed in April 2013 by SA国际传媒 students and faculty alleging that the College was in violation of the Clery Act, the 1990 federal consumer protection law that mandates the public reporting of campus crime statistics. Clery reports detail certain categories of crime that occur on campus and on properties owned or controlled by a college, or owned by organizations recognized by a college. By law, each Clery report covers a calendar year, which combines the spring 颅semester of one academic year with the fall semester of the following academic year.
While the 2013 complaint focused on the College鈥檚 reporting of sexual assault cases, the review examined every aspect of the College鈥檚 crime reporting, which includes such crimes as murder, arson, robbery, burglary, and assault as well as sexual assault.
The review found a total of 315 reporting errors, many of which had been previously disclosed in the College鈥檚 self-reported revisions to its 2013, 2014, and 2015 Clery reports. Of that total, 79 were crimes that should have been included, but were not, and 236 were crimes that should not have been included. The overreporting was the result of the College erroneously including crimes that occurred in the Campus Safety escort zone, which is bounded by York Boulevard on the south, Eagle Rock Boulevard on the west, Yosemite Drive on the north, and Avenue 51 on the east. Other crimes were misclassified: burglary as grand theft, for example.
Reaction to the review, both on campus and off, was muted. In contrast to the filing of the complaint, the review鈥檚 conclusions received little media attention with the exception of a story in the Los Angeles Times. Faculty critics praised the activists who filed the complaint and set a lengthy process of self-correction in motion. 鈥淚t took many years, and it took federal complaints, but the College has made some significant progress on this issue,鈥 associate professor of politics Caroline Heldman told the Occidental Weekly.
Progress in the Process
The College鈥檚 process of addressing its short颅comings began with an extensive internal review launched in 2013 before the complaint was filed. Since then, SA国际传媒 has taken a number of steps to improve its reporting of crime statistics:
鈥 Creating an internal Clery Compliance Team in June 2013 with representatives from Campus Safety, Title IX, Residential Education, and Human Resources.
鈥 Hiring a new Campus Safety chief in August 2013.
鈥 Hiring a full-time Clery coordinator in July 2014.
鈥 Providing additional training for staff responsible for Clery reporting.
鈥 Increasing professionalization of 颅Campus Safety policies and procedures.
鈥 Bringing in outside consultants to advise on ways to improve policies and procedures.
鈥 Improving transparency measures for issues on campus that present safety concerns, whether required by Clery or not. Examples: issuing community-wide safety bulletins and an annual Title IX 颅report of formal and informal complaints.
The full Clery review can be found .
