Security on Campus, Inc. Reminds Students New College & University Campus Safety Information is Available This Week Under Federal Clery Act

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Security On Campus, Inc. (SOC), the only national non-profit devoted exclusively to preventing crime on college campuses, is reminding both prospective and current college students that this is the week colleges across the country will be disclosing their latest crime statistics and other campus security information. Under the federal Jeanne Clery Act, a law SOC spearheaded passage of in 1990, colleges must release an Annual Security Report (ASR) with campus crime statistics and a summary of campus security procedures by each October 1st.

"This information empowers students and their families to make informed decisions about where they plan to go to college and how to protect themselves once they are on campus," said Connie Clery, who co-founded SOC with her late husband, Howard, after their daughter Jeanne was murdered in her college residence hall in 1986. "Tragically, we didn't have this information when we were looking at schools with Jeanne. Her legacy has become protecting countless millions of students who now are entitled to know how safe they are on campus."

The Act, formally the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 USC 1092(f)), applies to more than 6,000 public and private institutions of postsecondary education that participate in federal student aid programs.

Under the Act institutions must disclose the three most recent years worth of crime statistics for each campus as well as public areas such as streets and sidewalks near the campus and student organization housing and remote classrooms. They must also disclose information concerning things like the security of and access to campus facilities, whether campus security personnel are police or unsworn security, and rights for victims in sexual assault cases.

"The Clery Act information provides students and families with an important starting point for evaluating campus safety," added Jonathan Kassa, SOC's Executive Director. "While differences in campus environments make a strict ranking system difficult, these disclosures make it possible to have a side-by-side comparison of the level of security provided by different institutions and to ask informed questions."

Many institutions make their complete ASR available on their websites according to SOC. Crime statistics for each institution can be accessed via SOC's website at http://www.securityoncampus.org/.

SOURCE Security on Campus

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