For Immediate Release
June 20, 2003
(610) 768-9330
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For Immediate Release |
Contact: Howard K. Clery, III (610) 768-9330 |
Philadelphia, Penn.-The University of Pennsylvania and Connecticut's University of Bridgeport have been named this year's recipients of the prestigious Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Award by the non-profit watchdog organization Security On Campus, Inc. Each institution was honored for their innovative uses of technology and other campus security improvements made in recent years.
The Clery Award established in 1994 recognizes individuals and institutions who have taken extraordinary actions to make students safe. It is given annually by SOC in honor of co-founders Connie and Howard Clery's daughter Jeanne who was brutally raped and murdered on the Lehigh University campus in 1986. The federal campus crime reporting law, the Jeanne Clery Act, is also named in her memory.
"We wanted to honor the University of Pennsylvania for its innovative technological programs as well as its campus and community patrols," said Howard K. Clery, III, SOC's Executive Director and Jeanne's brother. "This award also lets the rest of the academic world know that schools are fighting campus crime with programs that do work." Clery noted that since 1996 when they began using security cameras there has been a 32 percent decrease in the overall crime rate on the campus.
"The University of Bridgeport uses innovative technology to make every one on campus the eyes and ears of the campus security department," said Clery. "The university provides every student and employee with a personal alarm device that when activated calls the campus security department telling them their exact location. As a result campus security officers' response time is usually under two minutes. Over time word gets out and criminals know where not to go to commit crime."
Also honored with the Clery Award this year was Kate Dieringer a student at Georgetown University in Washington, DC for her work to bring about improvements in how her school handles student complaints of sexual assault and other violence. Dieringer, the survivor of a campus sexual assault the fall of her freshman year in 2001, went public with her story last year. She rallied students on the campus to demand stronger policies against campus rape, and the disclosure of more information about students found responsible for violent acts, but allowed to remain on campus unbeknownst to their fellow students.
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