Leveraging the Clery Act to keep campus safe

The Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, more commonly known as the Clery Act, is a federal law that requires all colleges and universities across the United States to publicly disclose information about crime both on and near their campuses and some non-campus property.

It is essential to be Clery Act compliant to cultivate transparency, accountability, and awareness of campus safety, enabling students and employees to understand how our community works together to ensure everyone's safety.

DPSS publishes several items throughout the year to remain compliant with the Clery Act. One of the most important aspects of remaining compliant with federal law is publishing an annual report that compiles all relevant statistics for the prior three years. The reports for the Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn campuses may be found at the link.

Another step that DPSS takes to ensure the university is Clery Act-compliant is issuing warnings, including Crime Alerts and Emergency Alerts. These alerts are issued via email, text, and social media posts.

• Crime Alerts are issued to the campus community when a crime is reported to DPSS on university-owned or controlled property that poses a potentially dangerous criminal situation that is an ongoing or continuing threat to the U-M community.
• Emergency Alerts are sent via a mass, urgent notification system that allows the University to inform students, faculty, and staff of an active, major campus emergency.

In addition, DPSS issues Security Bulletins beyond what is required by the Clery Act to alert the campus community of potential security threats occurring on or near campus.

The university also maintains and publishes a Daily Crime and Fire Log of all crimes or fires reported to DPSS, regardless of severity.

Many crimes across campus are reported directly to DPSS from the victim, but that doesn’t mean that is the only route. Many members of the University staff are considered Campus Security Authorities (CSAs) and are required to report when they become aware of an incident.

CSAs are designated school officials with significant responsibility for student activities or who have the authority to take action or respond to an issue; therefore, they are required to report certain incidents as mandated by the Clery Act. The DPSS website helps determine who is a CSA and what annual training they need to have to fulfill those responsibilities.

The crimes reported under the Clery Act fall into several separate categories.

Criminal offenses:

• Criminal homicide: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, manslaughter by negligence
• Sexual assault: rape, fondling, incest, statutory rape
• Robbery
• Aggravated assault
• Burglary
• Motor vehicle theft
• Arson
• Domestic violence
• Dating violence
• Stalking

Arrests and Referrals for Disciplinary Action:

• Weapons law violations
• Drug abuse violations
• Liquor law violations

Hate Crimes:

• Any of the following crimes, in addition to any criminal offense listed above, that manifests evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of a bias against the victim:
  • Larceny-theft
  • Simple assault
  • Intimidation
  • Destruction/damage/vandalism of property
• The bias categories are:
  • Disability
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Gender Identity
  • National Origin
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Sexual Orientation

Hazing:

• Policy violations
• Law violations

Violence Against Women Act crimes

If you would like to report an incident, you can do so on the DPSS website or call us 24/7 at (734) 754-1131, or 911 in an emergency.

If you are a CSA and need to file a report, click here.

Additionally, DPSS has partnered with the Office of Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX (ECRT), which provides additional resources and oversees the handling of misconduct.