The Clery Act

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) is a federal law requiring all institutions of higher education participating in the federal student financial aid program to report campus crime data, support victims of violence, and publicly outline the policies and procedures they have put into place to improve campus safety. The university meets these requirements by disseminating a public Annual Security Report (ASR) to employees and students by Oct. 1 each year.

The ASR covers information about crime prevention efforts and campus policies on topics including: crime reporting, campus security and access, fire safety, UI Police law enforcement authority, disciplinary procedures, incidence of alcohol and drug use, and the prevention of/response to sexual assault, domestic or dating violence, and stalking. The report also contains crime and fire statistics for the last three calendar years.

The Clery Act also requires these institutions to provide students and employees with a timely warning (Crime Alert) for crimes that occur in the campus Clery geography that may represent a serious or continuing threat or an emergency notification (Hawk Alert) for emergencies that may present an immediate threat to the safety of the community.

You can learn more about the Clery Act by visiting the U.S. Department of Education website.

Annual Security Report

Campus Security Authority Responsibilities

If you are a Campus Security Authority (CSA), you have a legal obligation to report all criminal incidents occurring on campus or during UI activities to the Office of Clery Compliance.

The Clery Act requires CSAs to report certain types of criminal offenses (Clery Act crimes). If a Clery Act crime has been reported to you and it has not been reported to the University of Iowa Police Department, you are required to report it to the UI Office of Clery Compliance.

    If you have any questions about your responsibilities or would like to discuss the specifics of an incident, please feel free to contact the Office of Clery Compliance at: 319-335-5802.

    Thank you for assisting the university in complying with federal law.

    File a Clery Report

    If any Clery Act crimes have been reported to you that have not been reported to the UI Police Department, you are required to report them to the UI Office of Clery Compliance.

    FAQS

    An official of an institution who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities including but not limited to student housing, student discipline, and campus judicial proceedings. An official is defined as any person who has the authority and the duty to take action or respond to particular issues on behalf of the institution. The U.S. Department of Education has provided examples of those who are likely CSAs.

    Examples:

    • A dean of students, who oversees student housing, a student center, or extracurricular activities
    • A director of athletics, all athletics coaches (including part-time employees and graduate assistants)
    • A faculty advisor to a student group
    • A student resident advisor (RA) or assistant
    • A student who monitors access to residence halls or buildings that are owned by recognized student organizations
    • A coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life
    • A Title IX Coordinator
    • An ombudsperson (including student ombudspersons)
    • The director of a campus health or counseling center
    • Victim advocates, or others who are responsible for providing victims with advocacy services, such as housing relocation, disciplinary action, court cases, etc.
    • Members of the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) or other sexual assault advocates
    • Officers from local law enforcement who are contacted by the institution to provide campus safety-related services

    *This is not an all-inclusive list.

    Clery Act crimes include:

    • Murder/non-negligent manslaughter/manslaughter by negligence
    • Sex offenses: rape, fondling, incest, statutory rape
    • Aggravated assault
    • Robbery
    • Burglary
    • Arson
    • Motor vehicle theft
    • VAWA crimes: domestic/dating violence, stalking
    • Hate crimes
    • Arrests and referrals for disciplinary action: liquor/drug/weapon law violations

    If any of the above crimes have been reported to you and you have not already reported them, you must complete a CSA Incident Report form.

    If you do not know for certain whether the crime was reported to a local police department, please complete the form anyway. Provide as much information as you have such as the date, time, and location of the incidents. If you do not know the specifics, be as detailed as you can be with the information you have.

    Incidents should be reported in a timely manner and the incident reporting form is available throughout the year. The university has a responsibility to quickly inform the campus community of serious crimes which may pose an ongoing public safety threat, and CSAs are obligated by law to report Clery Act crimes immediately. We thank you for your prompt reporting and for ensuring our campus remains safe for all who live, work and study here.

    CSAs are responsible for reporting allegations of Clery Act crimes that are reported to them in their capacity as a CSA.

    This means that CSAs are not responsible for investigating or reporting incidents that they overhear students talking about in a hallway conversation; that a classmate or student mentions during an in-class discussion; that a victim mentions during a speech, workshop, or any other form of group presentation; or that the CSA otherwise learns about in an indirect manner.

    The University of Iowa is required to report offenses that occur on campus, in residence facilities, in non-campus property and on public property.

    As a CSA you are required to report Clery Act crimes to the Office of Clery Compliance, unless they were already reported to one of the below agencies:

    • University of Iowa Police Department
    • The Office of the Dean of Students
    • The Office of Institutional Equity
    • UIHC Safety and Security

    Incidents should be reported in a timely manner and the incident reporting form is available throughout the year.

    The university has a responsibility to quickly inform the campus community of serious crimes which may pose an ongoing public safety threat, and CSAs are obligated by law to report qualifying crimes immediately.

    We thank you for your prompt reporting and for ensuring our campus remains safe for all who live, work and study here.

    CSAs are required to complete a short ICON course that provides more information about their responsibilities within 30 days of beginning their role.

    CSAs will receive an automatic notification from the UI Compliance Qualifications system prompting them to complete the course. They may access the course directly from that email, or by completing the following steps:

    1. Log in to UI Self Service using HawkID and password at.
    2. On the Self Service page select My Career.
    3. On the My Career page select My Training, which will lead to the Compliance & Qualifications page.
    4. In the upper left corner, click on Enroll in Courses.
    5. Under “Find a Course” search for the course title “Campus Security Authorities.”
    6. The course (WPS001) will appear in the list. Click on View Details, and then click on Enroll in Session.
    7. Follow on-screen prompts to complete the course.

    Definitions

    To qualify as reportable, a Clery Act crime must have occurred in one of the following locations:

    • On-Campus: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by an institution within the core campus (same reasonably contiguous geographic area) and used by the institution in direct support of, or in a manner related to, the institution’s educational purposes, including residence halls; and (2) any building or property that is within or reasonably contiguous to the area identified in paragraph (1), that is owned by the institution but controlled by another person, is frequently used by students, and supports institutional purposes.
    • Non-Campus: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution; or (2) any building or property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the institution’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students, and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the institution.
    • Public Property: All public property, including thoroughfares, streets, sidewalks, and parking facilities, that is within the core campus, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the core campus.

    For Clery Act reporting, crimes must be reported according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook (UCR). For sex offenses only, the definitions that are used are from the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

    Murder/Non-Negligent Manslaughter: the willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another. NOTE: Deaths caused by negligence, suicides, accidental deaths, and justifiable homicides are excluded. Assaults to murder and attempts to murder should be classified as aggravated assault.

    Negligent Manslaughter: the killing of another person through gross negligence.

    Robbery: the taking or attempting to take anything from value of the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

    Aggravated Assault: an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.

    Burglary: the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. (For reporting purposes this definition includes: unlawful entry with intent to commit a larceny or a felony; breaking and entering with intent to commit a larceny; housebreaking; safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.)

    Motor Vehicle Theft: the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. (Classify as motor vehicle theft all cases where automobiles are taken by persons not having lawful access, even though the vehicles are later abandoned - including joy riding)

    Arson: any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, or personal property of another kind.

    Rape: The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without consent of the victim.

    Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purposes of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.

    Incest: Nonforcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degree wherein marriage is prohibited by law.

    Statutory Rape: Nonforcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

    A hate crime is a criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias. Bias is a performed negative opinion or attitude towards a group of persons based on their race, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin or gender identity.

    For Clery purposes, hate crimes include any of the above offenses (minus non-negligent manslaughter) and the addition of the categories below.

    Larceny: the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

    Simple Assault: the unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe lacerations, or loss of consciousness.

    Vandalism: to willfully or maliciously destroy, injure, disfigure, or deface any public or private property, real or personal, without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control by cutting, tearing, breaking, marking, painting, drawing, covering with filth, or any other such means as may be specified by local law.

    Intimidation: to unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

    The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (“VAWA”), which President Obama signed into law on March 7, 2013 imposes new obligations on colleges and universities under its Campus Sexual Violence Act (“SaVE Act”) provision, Section 304. Under this law the additional crime categories will need to be collected:

    Domestic Violence: includes misdemeanor and felony crimes of violence committed against a victim when the offender is the spouse of the victim, a former spouse of the victim, or an intimate partner of the victim, or has a child in common with the victim. Domestic violence also includes misdemeanor or felony crimes of violence when the victim is a minor subject to the control of the offender, or is an incapacitated individual subject to the control of the offender.

    Dating Violence: violence by a person who has been in a romantic or intimate relationship with the victim. Whether there was such relationship will be gauged by its length, type, and frequency of interaction.

    Stalking: a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for her, his, or others’ safety, or to suffer substantial emotional distress.

    The third category of crime statistics is the number of arrests and the number of referrals for disciplinary action for the categories listed below. Please note, these statistics are based on violations of the law, and not the university's policies that resulted in the disciplinary referral.

    Weapon Law Violations: the violation of laws or ordinances dealing with weapon offenses, regulatory in nature, such as: manufacture, sale, or possession of deadly weapons; carrying deadly weapons, concealed or openly; furnishing deadly weapons to minors; aliens possessing deadly weapons; all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.

    Drug Abuse Violations: violations of state and local laws relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs. The relevant substances include: opium or cocaine and their derivatives (morphine, heroin, codeine); marijuana; synthetic narcotics (Demerol, methadones); and dangerous non-narcotic drugs (barbiturates, Benzedrine).

    Liquor Law Violations: The violation of laws or ordinance prohibiting: the manufacture, sale, transporting, furnishing, possessing of intoxicating liquor; maintaining unlawful drinking places; bootlegging; operating a still; furnishing liquor to a minor or intemperate person; using a vehicle for illegal transportation of liquor; drinking on a train or public conveyance; all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned. (Drunkenness and driving under the influence are not included in this definition.)

    Emergency Alerts and Timely Warnings

    The safety of students, employees and visitors is our number one priority. We keep campus informed about imminent and ongoing safety threats using various notification systems.

    Hawk Alert is one layer of our campus emergency notification system. These alerts are sent via text message, phone call, and email when there is confirmation of an immediate threat to the health and safety of the campus community.

    All students and employees are encouraged to review and update their Hawk Alert settings using MyUI and Employee Self Service.

    Text message is the fastest way to receive an alert. Updates are posted to e.uiowa.edu and social media.

    You may also receive alerts via outdoor/emergency sirens systems, building notification systems, and other digital communication. These notifications are sent to either the entire campus or may be targeted to specific buildings or areas of campus when the impact is limited.

    Crime Alert is used to provide a timely warning about an incident that has already occurred, but may pose a serious or ongoing threat to the campus community. These alerts are sent via email when a Clery Act crime is committed within the university's Clery geography and reported to a campus security authority or local law enforcement.

    Clery Act crimes include: murder, manslaughter, sex offenses, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, arson, motor vehicle theft, domestic/dating violence, stalking and hate crimes.

    Hawk Alerts

    Review information and situation updates from recent Hawk Alerts.

    Crime Alerts

    Review recent Crime Alerts and crime prevention strategies.

    Crime Reporting

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    Daily Crime Log

    The Crime Log includes all criminal incidents and alleged criminal incidents reported to UIPD, local law enforcement authorities, and CSAs that occurred in UIPD jurisdiction.

    View Crime Log
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    Fire Log

    The Fire Log includes information about fires that occur in residence halls or housing units owned or controlled by the university.
    View Fire Log

    Compliance News and Reminders

    Office of Clery Compliance expands Clery Geography with addition of UI Health Care downtown Campus

    Wednesday, April 10, 2024
    A university’s Clery geography is used to guide decision-making when it comes to communicating about confirmed or potential safety threats to the campus community.

    University of Iowa named Clery Compliance Program of the Year

    Tuesday, August 8, 2023
    The annual award recognizes an institution that has gone above and beyond to integrate compliance into the day-to-day operations of key units that support compliance.