The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or Clery Act, signed in 1990, is a federal statute codified at 20 U.S.C § 1092(f), with implementing regulations in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at 34 C.F.R. 668.46.

The Clery Act requires all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs to keep and disclose information about crime on and near their respective campuses. Compliance is monitored by the United States Department of Education, which can impose civil penalties, up to $35,000 per violation, against institutions for each infraction and can suspend institutions from participating in federal student financial aid programs.

The Clery Act was championed by Howard and Connie Clery after their daughter, Jeanne, was murdered at Lehigh University in 1986. Jeanne’s parents believe she would have been more cautious if she had known about other violent crimes at her university.

Among other things, the Clery Act requires colleges and universities to

• publish an annual report disclosing campus security policies and documenting three calendar years of select campus crime and fire statistics,
• provide certain crime and fire statistics to the U.S. Department of Education,
• keep a crime log accessible to the public,
• uphold basic rights for survivors of sexual assault and other violent crimes,
• enact missing student notification procedures,
• have emergency notification and evacuation procedures,
• collect certain crime reports from Campus Security Authorities and local law enforcement to include them in the annual statistics, and
• issue timely warnings to alert the campus about crimes that pose a serious or continuing threat to the safety of the campus community. Visit TUalert to learn more about our types of emergency communication.