Changes to the Clery Act affect U. reporting of crimes on campus

The White House announced changes in July to the Clery Act under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 that would require colleges and universities to comply with new campus safety and security requirements designed to curb sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.

These changes include requiring colleges to compile statistics for incidents of dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, in addition to existing statistics.

Colleges will also be required to adopt the FBI’s revised and more inclusive definition of rape, which dispenses with the distinction between the forcible and non-forcible sex offense categories,as well as add gender identity and national origin as categories of bias for hate crimes. Colleges will also need to specify the jurisdiction of their security personnel and agreements between the institutions and State and local police agencies.

“These new rules strengthen schools’ capacity to provide safer college campuses for students and to keep everyone better informed about campus security policies and procedures,”U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said ina press release.

Director for Operations at the Department of Public Safety Stefanie Karp deferred comment to University spokesperson Martin Mbugua, who saidthe University currently complies with all Clery Act requirements with adedicated section on the Department of Public Safety’s website, and that the University will take steps to comply with all new requirements as well. The University publishes anAnnual Security and Fire Reportto compile its statistics over the previous year.

“We will have definitions for reportable crimes as defined in the FBI standards for crime reporting under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act,”Mbugua said.

Regarding the three new categories — dating violence, domestic violence and stalking — Mbugua said the University received reports of such incidents and dealt with them accordingly but did not include them in the report, as they were previously not required.

In addition, the changes require universities to issue a statement that specifies the jurisdiction of state and local police and the university police. Mbugua said that DPS currently has a map which outlines its own jurisdiction compared to those of other agencies. A statement about this working relationship already appears in the annual reports under “interagency cooperation,” but the details of the jurisdictional lines are not made public for security reasons.

Alison Daks, the Coordinator of Sexual Assault Support Services at Womanspace, a nonprofit serving women in crisis in Mercer County, noted that University students who are victims of sexual assault often face a unique dilemma, as their attackers typically live, work and eat in the same close space.

“It’s a much closer community, and often more self-contained [than a larger town], so it’s more of a challenge for them to try and renegotiate their life,”Daks said.“They might have to be concerned about their living arrangements, class schedules, things like that.”

Womanspace works closely with Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education on campus, serving University students as well as Mercer County residents.

SHARE director Jacqueline Deitch-Stackhouse did not respond to requests for comment.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Daks said the updated definitions and greater reported statistics might better reflect public understanding of sexual assault. She used the example of a1979 lawthat updated New Jersey’s definition of sexual assault to penetration anywhere, which allowed male victims to report crimes as well.

“I think the way that people actually look at [sexual assault] and think about it is using that more inclusive terminology,”Daks said.“If you look at the types of assaults that are being reported, you have to be inclusive of all of those things — unfortunately, objects being used.”

The final regulations will be published byNov. 1. All proposed changes are outlined in theJune 20Federal Register.