By Scott B. Wong
Daily Bruin Staff The U.S. Department of Education is not doing
enough to ensure campus crime statistics are accurate and complete,
according to one campus crime watchdog group. The
department’s new campus-security Web site is designed to
assist parents and prospective college students in comparing crime
data for nearly 2,600 public and private four-year institutions
nationwide. But the data is often inconsistent, according to S.
Daniel Carter, vice president of Security On Campus, Inc., a
national campus safety organization. “The format colleges
were being asked to submit the data in was complex,” Carter
said. “Colleges are using different categories and
definitions for reporting crimes.” Still, Department of
Education officials said the Web site is just one tool for the
public to make reasonable judgments in deciding where to send their
kids. “It’s not the end-all, be-all,” said Jane
Glickman, spokeswoman for the department. The online forms, through
which colleges could submit their statistical data, were clear
enough that all colleges nationwide reported their crime data to
the department, according to Glickman. “We’ve received
100 percent participation from all schools,” Glickman said.
Prior to the 1998 amendment to the Clery Act, a federal law named
after student Jeanne Clery who was raped and murdered in her
college dorm room in 1986, all campus crimes were reported
collectively. But 1999 statistics included the geographic breakdown
of where campus crimes were committed, for instance, whether they
are in residence halls or non-campus buildings. For example, the
UCLA Clery report shows no incidents of burglary in residence halls
in 1997, while 257 instances occurred campus-wide. The 257
incidents included burglaries in residence halls. Such instances
confused colleges as how to report 1997 and 1998 geographic
statistics that had been previously grouped under one category.
UCPD Director of Community Services Nancy Greenstein, who compiled
the Clery Report for UCLA, said the online statistics form was to
blame. Apparently, some sections of the form only permitted users
to type numbers and not letters, she said. “The computer
system didn’t allow you to put a “˜N/A’ for
statistics that weren’t required ““ only a zero,”
Greenstein said. “It’s not that there was zero
crime,” she said. “It’s that it wasn’t
broken out (from the overall statistic).” Since 1990, under
the Clery Act, colleges have been required to report the number of
campus crimes and arrests to the public. Murder, forcible sex
offenses and aggravated assault are some of the categories which
colleges must report. But not until 1998 was the Department of
Education required to enforce this law, calling for a standardized
form with which institutions would report crime statistics
consistently. The department decided the most useful way to
disclose the statistics was through its Web site, so information
could be readily available to anyone interested, Glickman said. But
despite the availability of the the site, Carter said not everyone
has access to the Web. “We are exploring options of making
this information available to everyone,” he said. Although
students are most at risk on campuses, it is parents who are
showing the greatest concern, according to Carter. “The
greatest level of interest is from parents who are wondering where
to send their kids and from parents who already have kids in
college,” he said. Carter said he does not anticipate the
change in administration next week to have major bearing on the
reporting of campus crime, but said they are taking extra
precautions. “We are working with a Sen. Arlen Specter of
Pennsylvania to ask the new secretary of education to make the
reporting of crime statistics a priority,” Carter said.
Campus crime statistics can be found at http://ope.ed.gov/security.
UCLA CLERY ACT CRIME STATISTICS Prior to 1999,
incidents which occurred in residence halls and off-campus
locations were reflected in the on-campus statistics; categories
that were not required were marked as zeros leading many to believe
no crimes were committed. 1997
1998 1999
On-campus Forcible sex offenses 7
15 8 Aggravated assault
28 29 10
Burglary 257 249
137 On-campus, residence halls
Forcible sex offenses 0 0
2 Aggravated assault 0
0 1 Burglary 0
0 22 Non-campus
buildings Forcible sex offenses 0
0 4 Aggravated assault
0 0 14 Burglary
0 0 52 UCPD
Clery Act Report Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN Web adaptation by
ROBERT LIU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff