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Rhodes College was 'noncompliant' with campus safety

law. What has changed after a federal inspection?
Laura Testino, Memphis Commercial Appeal Published 6:00 a.m. CT Nov. 7, 2019 | Updated 11:53 a.m. CT Nov. 7, 2019

A federal inspection revealed that Rhodes College was "noncompliant" with the Clery Act, a federal law that dictates campus safety policies, such as how
crime on college campuses is reported to the public.

The college was notified about a compliance assessment on Aug. 28, and it was completed Sept. 30, according to emails between the Department of
Education’s Clery Act Compliance Division and the college. Rhodes College shared these emails with The Commercial Appeal.

In total, the department required 15 revisions to the annual safety and fire security report, six revisions to drug and alcohol abuse policies, five revisions
to Title IX policies and three revisions to the college’s daily crime log reporting.

Rhodes College is now “minimally compliant” with the Clery Act, the emails show.

“... the institution is advised that its remedial actions cannot and do not diminish the seriousness of these violations,” the Clery Act Compliance Division
said in the email, “nor do they eliminate the possibility that the Department will engage in further compliance monitoring activities to diagnose and correct
past violations and to ensure that full remedial action is taken.”

The email continued to say that while the college cannot “truly ‘correct’ past violations,” the college’s leadership has shown that actions have and will
occur to bring Rhodes “into compliance” with the Clery Act.
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Rhodes College campus Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. (Photo: Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)

Clery Act encompasses crime reporting, campus safety practices

Formally known as The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, the Clery Act applies to any college or
university that participates in federal financial aid programs. The law requires the campus to disclose crime statistics and security information. It dictates
other policies and procedures related to campus safety, too, including alerts of crimes that pose immediate or continuous threats.
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Steven Healy (http://www.margolishealy.com/about/bio/steven_j._healy/), an expert on campus safety, generally teaches the Clery Act as a binary: an
institution is either compliant or not compliant.
“With the Department (of Education) saying it’s ‘minimally compliant,’ they’re basically saying, ‘Yeah, you’ve checked all the boxes’” to be Clery Act
compliant, Healy said. The use of “minimally” shows that the department likely has other concerns related to the institution’s policies or practices, Healy
said.

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Healy is a former director of public safety at Princeton University and former president of an association of campus law enforcement administrators. He
currently serves as a subject-matter expert for the federal Department of Education and Department of Justice. As the CEO of Margolis Healy, Healy
works with institutions nationwide on matters of campus safety, which include Clery Act compliance. Healy has not worked with Rhodes College in this
capacity, he said.

When the Department of Education reviews Clery Act compliance, it can conduct full program reviews or, as in the case with Rhodes College,
compliance assessments. Program reviews are time- and resource-intensive, and can take several years to complete, Healy said.

Institutions generally incur fines with these program audits, which are more often conducted when the department suspects noncompliance related to
sexual violence, Healy said. As of 2016, the department issued civil fines of up to $35,000 per Clery Act violation, as stated in the current handbook on its
website (https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/campus.html#handbook). The fine amount increased for inflation to $57,317 in February 2019.

Michigan State University was fined a historic $4.5 million for Clery Act noncompliance (https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-levies-
largest-ever-clery-fine-against-michigan-state-university-requires-major-corrective-action-following-systemic-failure-address-sexual-abuse) earlier this fall
after an investigation prompted by the university's handling of reports against Larry Nassar. In 2016, Penn State was fined a record-breaking $2.4 million
(https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-levies-historic-fine-against-penn-state-over-handling-sexual-misconduct-incidents) for
noncompliance related to reports against Jerry Sandusky.

Clery Act compliance assessments, which the Department of Education conducted on Rhodes, are on much shorter timelines and typically occur quietly.
The assessments are often the result of media attention on the institution or a complaint, Healy said. The department does not publish the results of
these assessments on its website (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/school/clery-act-reports).

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Originally enacted as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990, the Clery Act has expanded over the last 30 years. The consumer rights
bill has faced criticism over the years for its complexity.

“Consumers require more scrutiny on behalf of institutions” and the Department of Education, Healy said. "There’s a general expectation that you’re
going to follow these regulations, and especially those regulations that have to do with student safety, security and wellness."

Student speaks out about Clery Act complaint against Rhodes

Rhodes student Rachel Heimann recently wrote about why she filed a Clery Act complaint (https://souwesternews.com/1150/opinion/why-i-filed-a-clery-
act-complaint-against-rhodes-college-and-why-i-do-not-regret-it/) for an op-ed in The Sou’wester, the college’s student newspaper. The story was
published in October, after the department wrote to Rhodes that it had completed its assessment, according to emails shared with The Commercial
Appeal by Rhodes College.

Heimann, a senior at the college, wrote that she became interested in the college’s crime statistics reporting after she reported an incident during her
freshman year. She described feeling at odds with the college’s presentation of campus crime and what she found in the crime logs. Heimann alleged
crimes have been omitted in the crime logs Rhodes is required by the Clery Act to update.

According to the Clery Act handbook (https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/handbook.pdf), institutions are required record entries or additions to crime
reports within two business days. However, updates to the crime log are not required if the disposition changes after 60 days have passed, per the
handbook.

"Members of the Student Life Division have reviewed claims made in the opinion piece," Darrell Ray, interim vice president for student life, told The
Commercial Appeal in an email. "We have found no evidence to support the claim that crimes reported to Rhodes have been omitted from the master
daily crime log or that the master daily crime log is inaccurate."

Ray reiterated that the Department of Education's assessment deemed the college in compliance with the Clery Act, and thanked the department for its
assistance.

As part of the assessment, the Clery Act compliance specialist told Rhodes’ campus safety director, Ike Sloas, that based on a complaint the office
received, the department "identified areas of noncompliance" and would "perform a technical assistance" to Rhodes to ensure compliance.
 Rhodes College campus Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. (Photo: Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)

Healy described a compliance assessment in general terms, and said that during "technical assistance" the department reviews gaps identified during the
compliance assessment. This is done instead of launching a full program review.

A written account of Rhodes' technical assistance, held Sept. 4, said that: “Our division verified their (sic) were multiple areas of concern and
noncompliance found in the Annual Security & Fire Safety report (ASFR), Drug Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program (DAAPP), Title IX, and Daily Crime
Log (DCL).”

Rhodes College is now compliant with the act, encouraged to 'examine and
enhance' safety policies
Another email reviewed by The Commercial Appeal shows that Rhodes made the required revisions to these policies, communicating to the Department
of Education the precise page numbers of the required policy changes. Updates to the drug and alcohol abuse policies will be completed on Dec. 31,
when that report is due.

Rhodes will continue to verify its crime statistics as they are reported in the annual safety report, Ray said.

"All of the crime statistics in the 2019-20 Annual Security Report have been individually verified as accurate," Ray said, "and that portion of the report has
been deemed compliant by the (Department of Education)."

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According to the report (https://rhodes.edu/sites/default/files/2019-10/CSR_Fall%202019%20update_FINAL%20BOOK_interactive.pdf), released

annually on Oct. 1, Rhodes had one on-campus burglary in 2018, down from eight in 2017. The college reported four rapes for 2018, up from three in
2017 but down from 15 in 2016.

The email from Sloas, the campus safety director, announcing the 2019-2020 report noted that the college corrected "discrepancies found in the prior
annual reports concerning policy and procedures."

The Department of Education strongly recommended that Rhodes “continue to examine and enhance” its campus safety policies and procedures and
directed to college to the Clery Act handbook.

This language shows that the department has left the door open for ongoing monitoring, Healy said. Speaking in general terms, Healy said if he worked
for Rhodes College, he would continue examining policies and procedures, “because clearly you’re on the radar,” he said. “You owe your campus
community full transparency and disclosure around campus safety and security policies, programs, practices and procedures.”

The Department of Education shared in a statement to The Commercial Appeal that it has a longstanding policy not to comment on or acknowledge the
existence of various inspections "until the outcome officially has been communicated to the institution.”

The Department of Education declined to answer inquiries specific to the recent Rhodes compliance assessment.

Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com
(mailto:laura.testino@commercialappeal.com) or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino (https://twitter.com/LDTestino)
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