The Clery Update

Announcements

It's here, and more to the point, they're here.  Fall Semester 2025 has begun. This means it takes a little more time to get across campus, find a parking space, and the return of the legion of students who have the uncanny ability to walk out from between parked cars on Church St in front of Anderson while you are driving down the street.

Aye, but it also means we are in the last quarter of the Clery statistical year!!! (I will pause for the cheering to quiet down). Yes the Clery statistical year always ends with Fall semester.
The increase of students on campus also means we typically see an uptick in Clery crimes reported. Because of this CSA training is strategically assigned during the first weeks of the semester. This year we have a new training.
The good news? I'm not narrating it like last year. Better news?  The quiz at the end tells you what questions you answered incorrectly. Even better news? This training can be completed on your phone. Yes, that's right. You can view this training on your phone. This is a HUGE departure from years past when you could only complete the training on your desktop or laptop computer— no more!
We did a soft rollout of this new training arrangement with our summer camp staff and it went quite well.

You can expect CSA training to arrive in your inbox sometime in the next couple of days. The training will arrive from a noreply@cleryedge.com email address. Going forward, any Clery-compliance related correspondence and CSAs will be via the noreply@cleryedge.com email. This email address is not monitored, i.e. it does not have an inbox, so send any responsive correspondence to me at clery@wcupa.edu. 

The Clery Roadshow
I am taking Clery Compliance on the road this year for the Clery Roadshow so if you'd like the Clery Compliance Officer to visit your department or division please let me know at clery@wcupa.edu.  While I cannot appraise your grandfather's pocket watch like another well known show with "Roadshow" in its name— I can tell you all about Clery and answer any and all questions you may have. If you are wondering about dates, my schedule is quite open after October 1. 

 

Be Clear on Clery

Under the Clery Act a crime is "reported" when it is brought the attention of a campus security authority, the institution's police department or campus safety office, or local law enforcement personnel by a victim, witness, other third party or even the offender. Any Clery crimes in the report would be included in the crime statistics for that Clery statistical year, so if a crime is reported that occured several years ago, it would be included in the statistics for that statistical year. Example, an incident of domestic violence occured on campus in and academic building during 2021 but was reported to a CSA in 2025; the crime of domestic violence would included in 2025's Clery statistics.

Upcoming Clery Dates

October 1- publication of the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

Clery Fact/Did You Know

CLERY GEOGRAPHY
A property off-campus can be considered part of an institution's Clery geography even if it is miles or even a continent away from campus so long as the institution owns or controls the property. This can be through ownership of the property or renting through a written agreement. For example, an institution rents (through a lease) several apartments in a major world capital for use by its students while they are studying abroad there.  Because the institution controls the space through a lease the Clery Compliance officer must keep track of those properties for any Clery-reportable crimes occuring in or on that property. The Department of Education has relaxed the requirement that institutions request crime statistics from local law enforcement agencies abroad but has not relaxed the requirement that institution's keep track of and identify these properties as part of their on campus geography.

But wait, there is more. Non-campus property is also defined as a property owned or controlled by an officially recognized student organization (this includes any venue rented for controlled by a student organization). For example, if a student organization owns a property, e.g. the TKE house on High St, it is considered non-campus, but also if a recognized student organization/ sports team/ or club controls the property through a lease (or a lease passed down form members to members) it meets the definition of non-campus property under the Clery Act is considered part of West Chester University's Clery geography.

What does this mean for you as a CSA? It means do not disregard a report simply because it happened at a location off-campus; it might just have happened on West Chester's non-campus property. 

 

Reminders

Test Your Clery Knowledge

The Clery Compliance Club rents the second floor of the Irish Pub at 20th and Walnut Street in Philadelphia. During the event where the club has control of the second floor a fight breaks out during a heated discussion about Timely Warnings. One member suffers serious injuries requiring hospitalization. Clery crime classifications aside, given this incident happened in Philadelphia and not on campus what type of Clery geography would this be?

A. Nothing. It happened in Philadelphia
B.  On-campus, the definition of on-campus extends off campus when a group owns or controls any space
C.  It would not be in any category. It is off-campus, then it is not in ANY of the Clery geography categories
D.  Non-campus, the organization rented the space and therefore had control of it.

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