When a student experiences a threat to their personal safety it’s impossible to understand what they truly go through. Sexual harassment, stalking, hazing, or verbal or online abuse can create negative effects on emotional health and academic achievement for months or even years to come.

Administrators and campus safety professionals should put clear and accessible policies and reporting procedures in place for students, faculty, and staff. Reporting crime helps create a safer campus community by enabling the institution to improve prevention and response systems, and can also help victims begin the process of healing. Campuses with higher rates of reporting have created an atmosphere in which victims trust that their institution will help them through the process. Encourage your campus community to report crimes by:

• Sharing anonymous reporting options if available:
  Many colleges have secure reporting systems that allow students to file reports anonymously via website portal, secure e-mail or telephone, or a confidential, in-person meeting.
• Publicizing your reporting options:
  Share reporting options in various locations – online, on posters and flyers, at campus events, in your annual security report, and in offices across the institution. Students might seek out the information in various places; communicate without a doubt that your institution is there to help.
• Providing written information on supports and accommodations available:
  The Clery Act requires institutions to provide written information to all students and employees regarding various on and off campus support services as they relate to dating and domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Additionally, all victims of these crimes also must receive a written explanation of their rights and options moving forward. Make sure to provide written information on a victim’s rights and options when receiving a report.
• Sharing off-campus support services:
  If a student is concerned about anonymity, they should know how to seek resources located off-campus, such as a local sexual assault service provider or domestic violence shelter.
• Training dispatchers, first responders, and Clery Act campus security authorities on how to take a report of crime:
  Training first responders and those who would be most likely to receive a report of personal violence from a student on how to most empathetically handle that conversation benefits both the reporter and the responder.
• Educating students on how to develop a safety plan:
  If a student is concerned about their ongoing safety, they may benefit from a safety plan. Safety planning involves finding ways to stay safe in the present while also planning for future safety. Explain the role you or your office would play in developing such a plan and provide them with this information in writing so they can make an informed decision when it feels right for them.

Building Safer Campus Communities

Since the Clery Act passed in 1990, Clery Center has worked with lawmakers to advance campus safety policy and help colleges and universities understand and implement its requirements. We guide institutions to exemplify the spirit of the law with a proactive commitment to campus safety.

No guidelines or tips can guarantee safety—but you can provide safety knowledge for everyone on your campus. Let your students, faculty, and staff know that they will receive support and guidance when they are ready to report.

Contact us with your suggestions on how to publicize reporting options on campus and visit the Clery Center website to stay informed about our trainings and initiatives.