Clery Act

The Clery Act is named in honor of Jeanne Clery, a college freshman of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania who was assaulted and murdered in her campus dorm room in 1986. After her death, Jeanne’s parents advocated for federal legislation to make colleges and universities safer, resulting in the enactment of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act. The Act is a federal consumer protection law that aims to provide transparency around campus crime policy and statistics.

The Act requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to disseminate a public annual report to employees and students every October 1. The report must include statistics of campus crime for the preceding three calendar years, plus details about efforts taken to improve campus safety. Colleges and universities that have on-campus student housing facilities must also disseminate fire safety policies and statistics for their on-campus student housing facilities. UIC complies with the Clery Act by annually publishing the UIC Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASFSR). The ASFSR also includes policy statements regarding crime reporting, campus facility security and access, law enforcement authority, incidence of alcohol and drug use, and the prevention of/response to sexual assault, domestic or dating violence, and stalking.

In addition to the annual report, the Clery Act requires institutions to:

  • Identify mandatory crime reporters, called Campus Security Authorities or CSAs;
  • Provide alerts to the campus community when there are imminent, serious or continuing threats to the health and safety of students or employees (UIC ALERTs and [Urgent] Public Safety Advisory emails);
  • Make available a daily crime and fire log for public viewing; and
  • Provide rights and options to victims of Violence Against Women Act offenses (dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking)

Reportable Clery Crime Categories
Under the Clery Act, UIC must disclose statistics within the ASFSR and to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) the following reported crimes that occur in certain geographic categories:

  • Criminal Offenses: Criminal homicide: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, manslaughter by negligence; sexual assault: rape, fondling, incest, statutory rape; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; motor vehicle theft; and arson.
  • Hate Crimes: Any of the above-mentioned offenses, and any incidents of: larceny-theft; simple assault; intimidation; and destruction/damage/vandalism of property that were motivated by the perpetrator’s bias against the victim.
  • Violence Against Women Act Offenses: Domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
  • Arrests and Referrals for Disciplinary Action: for Weapons law violations, drug abuse violations, and liquor law violations.

Reportable Clery Geography
Under the Clery Act, UIC must disclose statistics within the ASFSR and to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) certain crimes that occur in the following geographic categories:

  • On-campus property: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled* by an institution within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area and used by the institution in direct support of or in a manner related to the institution’s educational purposes, including residence halls; and (2) any building or property that is within or reasonably contiguous to the area identified in part (1) of this definition that is owned by the institution but controlled by another person, is frequently used by students, and supports institutional purposes.
    Examples of on-campus property include the Behavioral Sciences Building, Student Centers East and West, School of Public Health & Psychiatric Institute, UIC Forum, Halsted St. Parking Structure, Thomas Beckham Hall, Les Miller Field – Curtis Granderson Stadium, Rockford College of Medicine East Building, and College of Medicine at Peoria.

    • On-campus student housing facilities: Any student housing facility that is owned or controlled* by the institution, or is located on property that is owned or controlled by the institution, and is within the reasonably contiguous geographic area that makes up the campus is considered an on-campus student housing facility.
  • Noncampus property: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled* by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution; or (2) any building or property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the institution’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the institution.
    Examples of a non-campus property include the Rockford L.P. Johnson Family Health Center and South Shore-Mile Square Health Center.
  • Public property: All public property, including thoroughfares, streets, sidewalks, and parking facilities, that is within the campus or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus.
    Examples of public property include portions of S. Halsted St., W. Taylor St. Parkview Ave. (Rockford), and 5th (Quad Cities).

The UIC crime statistics do not include crimes that occur in privately owned homes or businesses within or adjacent to the campus boundaries.

*Controlled means that UIC or a UIC-associated entity, directly or indirectly, rents, leases or has some other type of written agreement (including an informal one, such as a letter or an e-mail) for a building or property, or a portion of a building or property. Even if there is no payment involved in the transaction, for Clery Act purposes, a written agreement for use of space gives an institution control of that space for the time period specified in the agreement.

UIC Separate Campuses
UIC is a distributed university, with campuses and locations strategically placed to serve the needs of the region and the state of Illinois. Each regional campus is known for its distinctive health science focus, which plays a critical role in the economy of its area. For Clery Act reporting purposes, UIC encompasses eight campuses:

  1. UIC – Chicago Campus East
  2. UIC – Chicago Campus West
  3. UIC Peoria Regional Campus
  4. UIC Quad Cities Regional Campus
  5. UIC Rockford Regional Campus
  6. UIC Springfield Regional Campus
  7. UIC Urbana-Champaign Regional Campus
  8. University of Illinois Chicago School of Law*

*The University of Illinois Chicago School of Law maintains a separate Annual Security Report (ASR) for the current publishing year of 2019. Please visit  https://jmls.uic.edu/security/clery-disclosure-act.php to access the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law’s ASR.