Audit finds University of Iowa has ‘serious’ shortcomings in reporting crimes, doing fire drills

IOWA CITY — An internal audit warns holes throughout the University of Iowa public safety system — including deficiencies with its crime log, timely warnings, staffing, training and record-keeping — have put the institution at risk of non-compliance with the federal Clery Act, which requires transparency in reporting safety on college campuses.

The audit — conducted by Board of Regents auditors — uncovered findings that could “seriously affect” the university — require executive attention, or involve federal or state laws that could have serious consequences.

The audit — which the Board of Regents will review during its Feb. 23 meeting — also found shortcomings in UI’s fire safety training and required drills.

Crime log

Among this month’s UI audit findings was one cataloging deficiencies with the UI Department of Public Safety daily crime log.

“The crime log is incomplete and incidents are not consistently entered timely, increasing the risk that the crime log is not compliant with Clery Act regulations,” according to the audit.

The Clery Act requires crimes reported to campus police be recorded on a daily log within two business days — including the nature, date, time, location and disposition of the crime, if known.

UI doesn’t have an automated process for adding Clery crimes into its records management system, meaning it has to be done manually and can be delayed or incomplete due to error or lack of staff resources.

Additionally, although the UI is supposed to enter Clery crimes from local law enforcement into its log at the end of every year, it currently doesn’t do that.

In response to the auditors’ recommendations, the UI Department of Public Safety shared it is “in the queue for evaluating and implementing a new Clery compliance software that will generate crime logs based upon a Clery audit trail in the software.”

“If the new system is not implemented, current processes will be adjusted to ensure all crime reports are displayed in the Crime Log within two business days of being reported,” according to the UI response.

Fire drills

The audit found that fire drills are not being performed in UI residence halls in accordance with fire safety report procedures and International Fire Code requirements.

The audit said that failure increases “the risk that students and staff may not effectively perform responsibilities in the event of a fire and evacuation.”

The federal law requires institutions with on-campus student housing conduct four fire drills annually, with all residents participating.

In addition, Iowa code mandates colleges and universities conduct an emergency evacuation drill within 10 days of the start of classes.

“There is no process in place for (UI fire safety) to confirm with residence education that drills have been performed in accordance with … procedures,” according to the audit.

“Records for fire drills are missing for two residence halls and are not entered in a centralized database for any of the residence halls,” the audit stated.

Additionally, per the audit, the UI doesn’t consistently complete post-drill documentation, as required by the Clery Act.

Clery Act

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Campus Crime Statistics Act, enacted in 1990, requires higher education institutions receiving federal aid maintain and report information on a range of crimes that occur on or near campus, including sex offenses, robbery, assault, arson, domestic violence, and hate crimes.

Clery Act non‐compliance, as of February 2020, can mean civil penalties up to $58,328 per violation and suspension from federal student financial aid programs.

The Board of Regents previously has discussed issues with its three university campuses’ crime reporting — like five years ago when the universities were reporting statistics to the board that differed from each other and from those filed under the Clery Act.

Eight years ago, internal auditors found shortcomings in Iowa State University’s Clery Act compliance — including that it hadn’t been tracking crime statistics for its overseas campus in Rome or on eight of its nine teaching farms and its Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center.

Finding reports

The Clery Act statistics are used for a variety of purposes, one involving prospective students and employees seeking crime data through a “consistent, clear and conspicuous” annual security report and fire safety report.

Although the law requires colleges and universities to notify all student and employee prospects where they can find those reports, that’s not always happening at UI, according to the audit.

“Prospective students and employees are not consistently receiving the mandatory (annual report) notice of availability, increasing the risk that they will not have safety and security information that could impact their decision to select the University of Iowa,” according to the audit.

“There is no regular review of admissions or employment materials, applications, or websites for information specific to the (annual security and fire safety reports.)”

In response to the audit recommendation to improve its information to prospective students and employees, UI management reported addressing the issue years ago.

“But changes in personnel and technology have had unintended consequences on the notification process,” according to management’s response in the audit. “(Human resources) and admissions have been contacted and are updating the email notifications.”

Timely warnings

UI students, faculty and staff are familiar with “timely warnings” the campus issues — in accordance with the Clery Act — for crimes reported to police or campus security "considered by the institution to represent a serious or continuing threat to students and employees.”

But the UI has “no process for confirming all reported incidents were properly considered for a (timely warning), increasing the risk that the university community is not notified timely of possible threats.”

So far this academic year, UI has issued 11 crime alerts, all of which came during the fall semester. Auditors, in conducting a review of 22 incidents, found eight that “lacked supporting documentation on file to determine if they were properly reported and considered for a timely warning.”

Auditors also reported the university doesn’t retain electronically its timely warning assessment forms or have a documentation process in place. UI managers suggested the new software system could keep a timely warning database.

Staffing

The audit found several staffing-related shortcomings and noted the UI is lacking in Clery compliance workers.

A survey of Big Ten universities the size of the UI found an average of 1.5 to 2 full-time employees performing Clery activities, while the UI has less than 1 full-time equivalent.

“The combination of hours from the (Clery compliance officer) and the (compliance coordinator) equals roughly 0.7 FTE,” according to the audit, which also criticized the UI for a lack of structure around a Clery committee it established in 2013 to review cases potentially categorized as Clery crimes.

That group has no “charter, defined purpose, authority, responsibilities or deliverables, resulting in the committee being unable to establish goals and areas of improvement for Clery compliance.”

UI management committed to “reestablishing a central Clery Act committee and subcommittees as needed,” including a charter and meeting dates with agendas and minutes.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com