Indiana's Saint Mary's College Found In Violation Of The Jeanne Clery Act

Notre Dame, IN-Saint Mary's College (SMC), a private Catholic women's college, has been found in violation of federal campus security reporting requirements according to a report released on Tuesday, May 28th by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). While finding that non-compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Act "had continued for nearly 10 years" the DOE also found that Saint Mary's had "not substantively misrepresented the crime statistics that it has reported."

Campus crime statistics, including two sexual assaults, were reported in incorrect years, and the school failed to use proper crime reporting categories. They also failed to report crime statistics by geographic area as required beginning with 1999 statistics. A number of required security policy statements were also missing from annual security reports, including policies on how to deal with campus sexual assault.

Additionally, in what appears to be the first clear statement from the DOE that reports submitted to a campus police or security department for inclusion in the annual report's crime statistics must also be included in the school's crime log, the review found SMC in violation of the Clery Act for failing to include in their public crime log anonymous reports forwarded by the campus counseling center to be included in statistics.

The DOE report concludes that SMC is now properly reporting statistics and that their annual security report contains all required policy statements. The investigation was conducted after Security On Campus, Inc. filed a complaint against SMC on behalf of two student victims of sexual assault on the campus.

Related Documents-

Combined Program Review Report and Expedited Final Determination Letter (05/28/02)

Security On Campus, Inc. Complaint (05/08/01)