U.S. Dept. of Education Asked To Review Crime Reporting At St. Mary's College


For Immediate Release November 26, 2002

U.S. Dept. of Education Asked To Review Crime Reporting At St. Mary's College

SMC Clery Act Complaint-

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Moraga, CA-The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has been asked to review campus crime reporting at Saint Mary's College of California. In a complaint filed Tuesday by Security On Campus, Inc. (SOC), a non-profit watchdog organization, it was alleged that the college has improperly reported campus crime statistics, and omitted required sexual assault policies from an annual report given to students.

"Students, as well as other current and former members of the campus community came to us with these serious concerns, and we've asked the U.S. Department of Education to investigate," said S. Daniel Carter, the Senior Vice President of Security On Campus, Inc. "Students need to have accurate, complete information about campus security policies and crime statistics in order to make informed decisions about keeping themselves safe on campus," he added.

Under a federal law known as the Jeanne Clery Act, developed by the co-founders of SOC, Connie & Howard Clery, after their daughter Jeanne was murdered at Pennsylvania's Lehigh University in 1986, colleges have to accurately report crime statistics, and disclose security policies to their students and employees. Schools that fail to do so face $27,500 fines, and possibly losing eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.

Chief among the allegations raised by current and former members of the college community is that the school fails to include sexual assaults in their crime statistics unless they were reported to the campus security department or local police, despite a requirement in the federal law that requires other school officials to report as well. The school was also accused of understating the amount of students disciplined for illegal alcohol use on campus. An internal document obtained by SOC indicated that there were 377 student alcohol disciplinary referrals made in 1999, but the school only reported 31 liquor-law violations for that year.

The college was also accused of omitting federally mandated sexual assault victims' rights statements from their annual security report including them in a student handbook instead. "It is important that victims have easy access to these policies so that they will know their rights," said Carter. "Burying them in a student handbook with more than 100 pages of other information discourages them from finding out their rights. Most troubling, the college has apparently omitted altogether statements about the importance of preserving evidence and offering to assist victims in filing criminal charges."

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