Pa. teen's rape, murder led to campus-safety rules

IN APRIL 1986, Jeanne Ann Clery, 19, a freshman from Bryn Mawr, was raped and murdered inside her dorm room at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem.

Four years later, Congress passed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which dictates how colleges and universities must report crime statistics.

Here's how the Clery Act works:

Public and private colleges that get federal money must report seven types of crimes that happen on their campuses and in areas they control:

* Homicide

* Sex offenses

* Robbery

* Aggravated assault

* Burglary

* Motor-vehicle theft

* Arson

Colleges must include statistics about crimes that happen on public property, defined as areas immediately adjacent to campus such as streets and sidewalks.

They also are required to have an easily accessible public crime log, and to publish an annual security report by Oct. 1.

Starting this year, as a result of the campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act - the SaVE Act - the annual security report must include cases of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

The Clery Act outlines two types of crime alerts that must be sent to students: emergency notifications and timely warnings.

* A timely warning must be sent if a "Clery crime" has been committed that poses an ongoing threat to students and staff.

* An emergency notification immediately notifies a campus of a danger to the community that involves a health threat.

The U.S. Department of Education enforces the law and conducts reviews to see if colleges are complying. Reviews can start if the department receives a complaint, if news coverage uncovers issues, or if a college finds flaws in its compliance during an independent audit. Each violation carries a $35,000 fine.

The department's 304-page set of guidelines for complying with the law can be found online.