Earlier this month, the ED announced a Clery Act program review of Brown University following public attention to campus safety concerns. While the specific facts of the review will take time to unfold, the opening of the review itself is what institutions need to pay attention to. Clery program reviews often follow moments of heightened […]
What Recent Supreme Court Decisions Mean for Schools, Students, and Civil Rights New York v McMahon Last week, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with staffing cuts at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). In a 6-3 ruling, the Court reversed the district court’s injunction to block the reductions, […]
In light of President Trump’s March 20, 2025, Executive Order directing the Secretary of Education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education,” many higher education institutions are questioning whether compliance with the Clery Act remains a requirement. The short answer? Yes! Much like Title IX, the Clery Act […]
Get ready, because the Clery Act looks like it’s about to be amended! First introduced in the U.S. House on September 21, 2023, the Stop Campus Hazing Act passed through the U.S. Senate on December 12, 2024 by unanimous consent. It now awaits signature by the President. For higher education institutions that participate in student […]
One night in 1986, several residence hall doors were propped open at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. While propping the doors was intended to allow residents easier access to their dorms, it also allowed Josoph Henry, a sophomore who lived off campus, to enter after a night of drinking. Henry entered an unlocked dorm, where freshman, […]
Record-Breaking $14 Million Fine Imposed for Noncompliance with the Clery Act As part of a settlement agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Education (“the Department”) on March 5, 2024, Liberty University (“Liberty”) must pay a $14 million fine to the Department for violations of the Clery Act discovered during a program review. Liberty has […]
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (“Clery Act”) requires postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV student financial assistance programs to annually disclose campus crime statistics and security information. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (“the Department”) enforces the Clery Act through program reviews, which […]
Last week, Republican and Democratic lawmakers passed a $1.5 trillion spending bill that would fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year. In addition to providing aid to Ukraine and domestic federal programs, the bill dedicated $575 million to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which was first signed into law in […]
Title IX professionals are feverishly working towards an overhaul of their sexual misconduct policies and procedures to meet the August 14th deadline set out by the Department of Education. Part of this analysis includes identifying the Title IX team (Investigators, Decision Makers, Informal Resolution Facilitators), who institutions are mandated to train under the new regulations. In […]
