The Clery Act

• What is the Clery Act?

  The federal Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act was passed in 1990. After their daughter was raped and murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University in 1986, Howard and Connie Clery advocated for legislation to be passed that would require universities to disclose information about crimes on college campuses. Their goal was to create safe communities where individuals had all the information needed to make informed decisions regarding safety. In 1998 this law was renamed in honor of their daughter to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. Today it is more commonly known as the Clery Act.

• What does the Clery Act require universities to do?

  This federal law requires all universities that receive Title IV student financial assistance programs to comply with a variety of different requirements regarding campus safety. Some of which are to:

  • Collect, report, and disseminate crime data for certain crimes in a specified geographical area.
  • Develop policy statements regarding campus safety.
  • Prepare and distribute an annual security report.
  • Issue timely warnings and emergency notifications to the campus community.
  • Submit crime statistics to the Department of Education.
  • Create, maintain, and make available a daily crime log.

• What types of crime does the Clery Act require institutions to disclose?

  Criminal Offenses

  • Criminal Homicide
  • Rape
  • Fondling
  • Incest
  • Statutory Rape
  • Robbery
  • Aggravated Assault
  • Burglary
  • Motor Vehicle Theft
  • Arson

  Hate Crimes

  All crimes motivated by bias¹ in the Criminal Offenses column plus the following:

   

  • Larceny-Theft
  • Simple Assault
  • Intimidation
  • Destruction/Damage /Vandalism of property

   

   

  Violence Against Women Act Offenses

  • Domestic Violence
  • Dating Violence
  • Stalking

  Arrests and Referrals for Disciplinary Action

  • Drug Law Violations
  • Liquor Law Violations
  • Weapons Law Violations

  1 Areas of bias include actual or perceived race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, and disability. 

• What is the University of Northern Colorado's Clery Geography?

  The Clery Act requires universities to disclose crime statistics that occur on their Clery geography, which includes: (1) on campus property including residence halls and extended campus locations, (2) public property surrounding the campus, (3) non campus property which includes off campus classrooms and buildings for recognized student organizations.

  

• Where should I report a crime?

  The University has designated the UNC Police Department as the sole reporting site on campus. The UNC PD welcomes all crime reports and is happy to direct you to the appropriate reporting location. The Police Department is located in Gray Hall and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Reports can be made in person at the Police window or by phone, 970-351-2245 (1-2245 from on-campus phones).

  Limited confidential reporting is also available through My Safe Campus. This reporting system is not controlled by the police department but will be shared if appropriate. Confidential reporting limits the ability of the police department to respond, investigate, and pursue charges against a perpetrator of a crime and should not substitute for emergency or standard crime reports. In case of an emergency always call 911.

  More detailed policies on reporting crimes can be found in the Campus Security and Fire Safety Report.

Additional questions regarding the Clery Act

If you have additional questions about the Clery Act, please contact the Clery Compliance Officer, Rebecca Thompson.

Rebecca is a proud Greeley native.  After graduating high school at Greeley West, she obtained her 2-year associate degree from Aims Community College and transferred to the University of Northern Colorado where she earned her bachelor’s in Business Management with the Monfort College of Business.  She then went on to obtain her MBA from Colorado Christian University.  After working in the banking world for a couple years, she moved into a career at a credit reporting agency where she worked her way up to Operations Manager of Training and Development.  She had great opportunities to learn and experience so much from her career in management and always had an interest in working in higher education.  She is now the Clery Compliance Officer at the University of Northern Colorado.  The best part of her role at UNC is getting to meet all the unique and wonderful people that are part of the UNC community. 

 You can contact Rebecca with any questions you have regarding the Clery Act at 970-351-2543 or by email at Rebecca.thompson@mblayst.com