For Immediate Release March 5, 2003

Salem, WV-Calling Salem International University's failure to properly report 84 serious campus crimes, including 5 forcible sex offenses, between 1997 and 1999 "egregious misconduct" today the leaders of a national-non profit watchdog organization called on the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to impose a record high $2.3 million fine on the school for violating the Jeanne Clery Act. This demand comes as the DOE is planning to follow-up on a report issued in December 2001 which found that SIU's underreporting of campus crimes "may have resulted from the deliberate and/or willful acts of one or more university officials."

"A strong message must be sent that the American people will not tolerate this type of outrageous behavior," said Connie and Howard Clery, who co-founded Security On Campus, Inc. in 1987 after their daughter Jeanne was murdered at Lehigh University. "It was this type of arrogance that cost us our beloved daughter Jeanne."

The federal Jeanne Clery Act named in memory of the Clerys' daughter requires all colleges and universities, both public and private, that participate in federal student aid programs to report basic campus crime information to their students so that they can make informed decisions about avoiding victimization on campus, and afford campus sexual assault victims certain basic rights including the opportunity to be assisted in notifying local law enforcement. The DOE can impose civil penalties of $25,000 per violation for offenses occurring prior to 2003, and can now impose $27,500 fines.

"At $25,000 per underreported statistic the fine should amount to $2,100,000," explained the Clerys in a letter to Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "This doesn't even include their other egregious violations, such as their denials of the guaranteed rights of rape victims for which they must be fined another $200,000," they added referring to 8 separate findings of Clery Act violations in addition to their failure to properly report campus crime statistics.