Discussion is better than silence; knowledge trumps ignorance. Thousands of universities receive federal funds, including our own campus.
Under the law, those universities are required, since the Clery Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), 34 C.F.R. 668.46 to record and report instances of crime on and near their campuses. (UW-System schools publish that information in compliance with federal and state law.)
Unfortunately, it’s not enough – auditing of reports is underfunded. Even if reporting statistics are accurate, there’s no way to know with assurance how university administrators addressed incidents of violence. The Campus Accountability and Safety Act, S.2692 — 113th Congress (2013-2014), a bipartisan federal proposal, would require campus administrators to report more comprehensively, and to disclose how they’ve handled reported acts of violence.
(Individual identities would be protected; the goal is to learn of violent incidents and their handling.)
One would prefer – especially a libertarian would prefer – a country that needed fewer laws.
But some of those administrators who count their institutions as entitled to millions in aid will still contend that they’re equally entitled to conceal how they address campus violence. University administrators of better character would be more open; there are too few leaders of that kind.
Those schools that take federal money should both report publicly the crimes on their campuses and how they’ve addressed those reported crimes.
A better climate would push public-relations to the back of the room, or into the hallway, where it belongs:
“Right now schools have reason to repress reporting and be focused on public image rather than being focused on the problem, because there is no real penalty for not accurately reporting and there is no standardized survey,” said Nancy Cantalupo, a research fellow with the Victim Rights Law Center and a researcher at the Georgetown University Law Center, who acted as an informal consultant during some stages of the bill’s creation.
Ms. Dauber [professor of law, Stanford] says transparency is the single most important change that Congress could bring about. “Absent transparency, we don’t know what problem we are trying to solve and we have no idea how to solve it,” she said. “We are just fumbling around in the dark. When you want to change, you take an honest inventory of your situation.”
The legislation is not perfect; it could use stronger provisions for investigatory efforts. More money should be authorized for audits of university reporting and handling of campus-related crimes.
Even without the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, our campus and the entire UW System should begin reporting more openly the disposition, and not merely incidents, of violence. (Particular identities are not the goal, but information about the number of incidents and how they were handled should be.)
Administrators throughout the UW System should demand state legislation to require for Wisconsin provisions like CASA’s proposed federal requirements.
Anything less is inadequate.
Embedded below readers will find a summary of the legislation and a draft bill.