Some Clarity About Clery

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 annually monitored by the United States Department of Education.  I will be the first to point out the overreach by the Federal Government in the area of education regulation.  However, in this case, the Clery Act creates a meaningful resource for students, parents, and the campus community.  It is a law that was needed.

The law is named after Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old Lehigh University student who was raped and murdered in her campus residence hall.  It was later learned that that attack on Jeanne Clery was one of 38 violent crimes recorded at the University in three years. 

Her parents argued that, had the university’s crime record been known, Jeanne Clery would not have attended Lehigh.  Hence, schools are now required to annually report their crime statistics on campus and near campus.

Most college and university campuses are pretty complicated places.  For example, larger universities, like Arizona State, which has over 70,000 students, would rank in the top-400 of municipalities in the United States, and many of the Independent colleges and universities are larger than the communities in which they reside. 

In other words, the organizational cultures that comprise most college and university campuses are like any other community in that they are full of good people and sometimes not-so-good people.  Take any type of activity that happens in any community and there’s a good chance that same activity may be taking place on a college or university campus. 

The difference is, colleges and universities are now required to publicly report behaviors or crimes on their own websites.  Families need to know what they’re walking into.

Of course, it’s the public reporting of these behaviors or crimes that often puts colleges and universities on edge.  The concern of many administrators is that a high number of reports signals an unsafe campus, which can obviously be the case. 

However, a higher number of reports may also mean that the campus community is doing a better job educating students about the difference between appropriate behavior and violent activity.  Most college and universities require students to go through a period of education and training in the area of interpersonal relationships. 

It is also true that students don’t always pay attention during orientation or in their residence hall meetings, or that they may be absent when the training is taking place.  How can that be possible?  Well, think about the logistics required to educate every citizen in a city with a population of 70,000—or 2,500, for that matter.  It’s tough to do thoroughly and well.  Nevertheless, it needs to be done, and to be done well.  Candidly, we don’t do that kind of education well enough, but we will improve.

My point in this post is that leaders have a responsibility to facilitate the creation of a campus or organizational culture that is safe, and that doesn’t shy away from addressing uncomfortable topics like sexual violence or misconduct.  Students deserve to live and learn in a safe and respectful campus environment…period. 

Employees deserve to work and contribute in a safe and respectful work environment…period.  And there are specific steps leaders can take to attend to a healthier learning or working culture.  Here are a few of them:

1. Create a Culture of Respect

Whether a campus or the workplace, a healthy culture is key to an organization’s success.  Good leaders establish a tone of respect.  In this way, leadership is far more about organizational stewardship than it is about power.  As I’ve said before, culture trumps strategy every time, and a leader’s number one responsibility is to establish a healthy culture of respect.

2. Create a Strong Sexual Harassment Policy

Policies emanate from an organization’s mission and culture.  A robust harassment policy needs to be featured in an employee or student handbook, and it needs to be regularly reviewed, updated, and amended.  A strong HR department is critical in this regard.  Reviewing policies with new students and employees as well as returning students and employees is one more opportunity to educate about appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

3. Be an Active Bystander

Assuming that #1 and #2 exist on the campus or in the workplace, it is important that leaders encourage members of the community in which they serve to report any suspicious or questionable behavior that they may have witnessed.  Importantly, reporting is not “tattling”; rather, it is an invitation for HR and others to perform their duties and either correct questionable interactions or investigate behaviors that are counter to the organization’s culture.

4. Keep Parties and Jokes “PG” Rated

Healthy cultures enjoy being together.  There are ample opportunities to socialize and build lasting friendships which can be both personally rewarding and competitively advantageous.  However, community gatherings and office parties can also be a place for mischief and harm.  If alcohol is involved in the gathering, appoint an individual to monitor over-consumption.  And, as a leader, always, always, always, establish an expectation for healthy interactions and engagements.

5. Require Anti-Harassment/Violence Training

This should be integrated with #2.  Every student and employee, new or returning, should be required to undergo regular anti-harassment/violence training.  Depending on the organization, this training may be as formal as a classroom lesson or as convenient as an on-line review session.  In either case, persistent and respectful education is critical.

6. Adhere to a Rigorous Process with Checks and Balances When Investigating Harassment Claims

A good policy will spell out the process for investigating harassment claims.  Depending on the size of the organization, there needs to be a minimum of two to three independent individuals charged with investigating claims.  An independent process clearly spelled out in formalized and published policy protects victims of harassment and violence as well as those who have been unjustly accused of impropriety.  Assuming the policy is strong, leaders must then trust the process.

 

In our most recent Clery report, the University I serve reported zero cases of sexual violence in the last available reporting period.  We are a campus community that is the size of a small-town and, honestly, those numbers don’t ring true to me.  My suspicion is that people are choosing not to report, maybe even don’t know how to report, or that some communication has broken down within our system.  All three scenarios are possible, and each can be corrected.

People have a right to learn and work in environments that are safe and harassment free.  The best leaders facilitate the creation of cultures that are conducive to healthy relationships and productivity.  Occasionally, bad actors penetrate even the healthiest of cultures.  When that happens, they need to be reported and disciplined, as appropriate, whomever they happen to be.

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