August 9, 2001

The Honorable Howard “Buck” McKeon
Chairman, Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness
Committee on Education and the Workforce
U. S. House of Representatives
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman McKeon:

While greater clarity in campus crime reporting guidelines (20 USC 1092(f) & 34 CFR 668.46) is a laudable goal, the American Council on Education’s June 21st response to “Fed. Up” ignores the real problems. The major problem has been inadequate guidance and enforcement from the U.S. Department of Education. An office with trained personnel should be established within the DOE to handle these important duties.

Limiting the “Jeanne Clery Act” to 2 & 4 year schools, eliminating trade schools that don’t have campus housing or security, would also help tremendously.

The law’s crime reporting requirements have only been changed significantly once, in 1998, due to massive underreporting by administrators and campus police. The complaint that it is ever changing is bogus.

FERPA, the student privacy law, continues to cause tremendous problems in getting campus crime information. Any young adult in his home town who committed a crime would see his name in the local paper, and could spend some time in jail. On campus there is a double standard. Their crime is kept confidential and instead of jail they get a slap on the wrist from the dean. Shame is a great teacher, the Clery Act should require that this information be public and FERPA should be eliminated.

Parents also have a primordial right to know when their dependent child gets into serious trouble with alcohol or drugs. The “parental notification” laws adopted by Congress in 1998 should be made mandatory.

Please consider our proposals and hold the line on strong campus crime reporting requirements. We look forward to working with you as Congress considers making the higher education regulations clearer. Thank you for your continuing support.

Warmest Personal Regards,

Connie & Howard Clery, Co-Founders