The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act is part of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and requires colleges and universities to disclose timely and annual information about campus crime and security policies. All public and private institutions of postsecondary education participating in federal student aid programs are subject to it.
The act was originally enacted by Congress and signed into law by President George Bush in 1990 as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990. It was championed by Howard and Connie Clery after their daughter Jeanne was murdered at Lehigh University in 1986, and amendments to the act in 1998 renamed it in memory of Jeanne Clery. The act requires all institutions to publish an annual report by October 1 that contain three years of campus crime statistics and certain security policy statements, including sexual assault policies, which assure basic victims’ rights; the law enforcement authority of campus police; and where students are to go to report crimes.
Institutions are also required to report the following types of incidents if they result in either an arrest or disciplinary referral: liquor law violations, drug law violations, or illegal weapons possession. The institution must indicate if any of the reported incidents, or any other crime involving bodily injury, was a “hate crime.”