ISU audit finds campus safety policies lacking

AMES - Iowa State University is reviewing, updating and documenting its campus safety and security policies after an internal audit found shortcomings in how the university tracks and reports crime - including sexual assault.

The audit, dated June 17, found - among many things - that some of ISU's 'timely warning” messages only are posted on the ISU Department of Public Safety website and not distributed to the larger campus community, violating requirements of The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.

'Timely warnings must be posted in a manner that does not require individuals to search for the information,” according to the audit. 'Continuing the practice of using website postings only for timely warnings would prevent effective notification of ongoing threats to the campus community.”

The audit recommends communicating warnings about crime reports on or near campus through mass emails, voice messages, or text messages.

Auditors also determined that ISU has not been tracking crime statistics for its overseas campus in Rome, Italy, or on eight of its nine teaching farms and the Hansen Agricultural Student Learning Center, overseen by the ISU Department of Animal Science.

According to the Clery Act, any property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in support of educational purposes or frequented by students must be included in crime statistics reporting.

'Excluding any properties fitting these criteria would put the university at risk of underreporting crime statistics to the department of education,” according to the audit.

Auditors said ISU's off-site teaching farms and agricultural learning center should be included in crime statistics, as should its campus in Rome, and ISU management committed to adding those properties to its reports.

Regarding written procedures for campus safety and security reporting procedures related to the Clery Act, auditors said ISU is lacking. Auditors said there are no written procedures in place for how to compile criminal statistics, periodically review the geography covered by the Clery Act, submit reportable statistics online to the Department of Education, prepare the annual security report, and update the crime log - among other things.

'The absence of a written procedure increases the risk of inconsistent task execution and loss of administrative knowledge,” according to the audit. 'In turn, the institution is at an increased risk of failing to efficiently execute tasks aimed at ensuring Clery Act compliance.”

ISU management, according to the audit, committed to correct its shortcomings - including creating a systematic process to identify and train campus security authorities who are responsible for reporting crimes to the Department of Public Safety, another noted inadequacy.

'No systematic process exists at the university to identify all individual campus security authorities in order to notify them of their reporting obligations,” according to the audit. 'The Department of Education recommends that institutions make sure (campus security authorities) know that they are (authorities) and provide them with adequate training.”

The U.S. Department of Education's Clery Act compliance division conducts investigations to make sure institutions are in line with the policy, which requires all institutions participating in federal financial aid programs to keep and disclose information about crime on or near campus.

Non-compliance can result in $35,000 fines, limitation or suspension of federal student financial aid, and the loss of eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.

Warren Madden, ISU senior vice president for business and finance, said the university is making the appropriate changes and hopes to come into full compliance with the Clery Act by November - when auditors will follow up.

He said ISU is not the only university trying to interpret the updated federal requirements.

'Most universities are in the process of trying to get a clear understanding of what is required under the Clery Act in terms of information dissemination and material that needs to be reported,” Madden said.

Madden said ISU officials had some question about how to handle reports made long after the alleged incident occurred.

'I think the interpretation that has been coming out of the Department of Education is that you should put out more information rather than less,” Madden said. 'So we have started, at ISU, to do that.”

In March, after an increase in warnings out of the University of Iowa prompted students to protest its weak stance on sexual assault, ISU officials released details on how it handles sexual violence. Regarding 'timely warnings,” ISU officials said they issue the messages for crimes occurring on or near campus 'that are considered by the institution to represent a serious or continuing threat to students and employees.”

ISU officials at the time said that 'a criminal interaction between acquaintances does not automatically rule out the issuance of a warning” and that they also consider victim safety and law enforcement investigations before disseminated information.

In 2013, ISU issued six warnings - four of which involved sexual assault. At UI, 14 'timely warnings” were issued during the 2013-14 school year, including 12 for reported sexual misconduct.

In response to the audit's finding that ISU could be underreporting crime statistics by leaving out some of its off-campus sites, Madden said the issue is complicated for land-grant universities.

'Up until the recent interpretation, we were not aware that we needed to include all these areas in our reports,” he said. 'But now we need to be more comprehensive and include the outlying areas.”