THE CLERY ACT

• Requires colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on and around a campus.

• Named in memory of Jeanne Ann Clery, who was raped and murdered in her Lehigh University residence hall dorm room April 5, 1986.

Source: Security On Campus

Possibly related:

MSU stomps Detroit Mercy

Americans making shorter holiday travel plans

Massive Brody cafeteria renovation to begin soon

Family, friends shocked after student goes missing

Police brief 11/20/08

Collegiate police practices under review

Universities may want to evaluate how they disclose information about murders and sexual assaults on campuses after Eastern Michigan University was found to have violated the Clery Act.

With the murder and rape of Eastern Michigan student Laura Dickinson, 22, and the university subsequent cover-up of her death, national attention has been brought to how universities inform families and the public about homicides on campuses.

The Clery Act requires that public institutions provide people with information about issues related to campus safety and security.

"In any type of investigation, in a murder, we would notify the appropriate university officials," MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said. "If the person is apprehended, we would do a news release and utilize the services of the media."

In the event that a person is murdered, the name isn't released until the family is notified, she said.

"The last thing you want is the family to read about their loved ones before they have been contacted," McGlothian-Taylor said. "We're very sensitive to that."

Earlier this month, a U.S. Department of Education review found Eastern Michigan violated the Clery Act.

An independent investigation performed by Butzel Long Law Firm revealed law enforcement agencies initially considered Dickinson's death as a possible homicide. However, university officials and a medical examiner reported she died of asphyxiation and there was no sign of foul play.

Investigators found Dickinson dead, with her legs apart and naked from the waist down, with a pillow covering her face.

"MSU has been very careful, because we're a public university, to separate the police department from the administration," MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap said.

Eastern Michigan's Department of Public Safety reports to its vice president of business and finance, said Ward Mullens, associate director for university communications - much like MSU's Department of Police and Public Safety, which reports to Fred Poston, the vice president of finance and operations.

"When it comes to investigations we inform (Poston) of the status, but he would never get involved in how (an investigation) was directed. That's our responsibility," Dunlap said.

Not until February, when a suspect was arrested, did Dickinson's family and Eastern Michigan students learn the details of her death.

"What happened at Eastern Michigan should be a wake-up call for MSU," State News and First Amendment lawyer Herschel P. Fink said.

The State News is involved in a legal battle with MSU because the university withheld reports in a 2006 assault in Hubbard Hall. The incident involved three men brandishing a gun at three victims and pouring gasoline on one.

"It may have very well violated federal law and the Freedom of Information Act when (they) withheld information about this crime from The State News," Fink said.

"The whole point of the Eastern Michigan case is that universities have, under federal law, an obligation to release this kind of crime information and not hold it secret as MSU is doing."

Information that is released to protect the community versus protecting the privacy of an individual has to be weighed by the law enforcement agency.

"We released the fact that there was an assault, where it occurred and the suspects were taken into custody," Dunlap said. "People have an expectation of privacy and there are also aspects that are necessary to protect the investigation."

Law enforcement agencies also have the right to withhold information in an open or ongoing investigation if they do not consider it a threat to the public, like in the 1973 cold case murder of an MSU student.

"In the 1973 murder of Martin V. Brown, we released the matter of death as homicide and the cause by knife wounds, but we didn't release how many stab wounds. It didn't matter to the public and it wouldn't affect public safety," Dunlap said.

Oftentimes, police and university officials filter information they don't feel is necessary for public knowledge, Fink said.

"What (officials) can clearly do is release the official version of a crime in the police reports," he said. "They can't issue a cleansed version of what happened and think they have satisfied the legal requirements. It's just spinning their own version of what happened."

In the event an incident occurs on campus, university officials will meet with police, legal staff, public relations and the residence hall staff in order to get advice about informing the public, MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said.

Information that relates to an investigation or civil rights will be withheld, but never to advert the safety of the public, Denbow said.

"It is our commitment to notify people," he said. "You have to be careful about crying wolf and notifying people because that quickly becomes spam. One of the things we have to do is rumor control and prevent rumors. The one way to prevent rumors is facts."

Both MSU and The State News are awaiting a decision from the Michigan Supreme Court on the university's request to leave for appeal.

"We try to be as open as possible, and I know it doesn't satisfy everyone," Dunlap said.

"But we were the first public university in the country to report crime statistics almost 60 years ago. We publish a blotter … and of course we depend on (the media) to disseminate reports."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Published on Wednesday, July 11, 2007