Occidental College previously fell short in “numerous, serious, persistent and systemic” ways in reporting sexual assaults and other crimes on or near campus, but the school since has made changes and is now in compliance with a federal crime-reporting law, the U.S. Department of Education has concluded.
In a report released this week, federal investigators found that from 2009 to 2013, administrators at the Eagle Rock liberal arts school violated multiple mandates of the Clery Act, which requires colleges to report campus crime statistics each year. The violations included a failure to accurately compile and disclose crime statistics, issue timely warnings of potential safety threats, maintain accurate daily crime logs and provide necessary crime-prevention information to students, employees and parents.
The college lacked administrators with expertise in the law and its requirements and had inadequate systemwide policies and procedures in place, according to the Clery Act Compliance Division of the Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid, which conducted the review.
Occidental has since hired additional staff and made institutional changes, which the Clery Act Compliance Division, or CACD, acknowledged in its conclusion that the campus is now in compliance with the law. The review states that, while “serious concerns remain,” most of the violations have been “satisfactorily addressed” by such changes. “Nevertheless,” it says, “the officials and directors of Occidental are put on notice that they must continue to develop the institution’s campus safety program and take any additional necessary action to fully address the [identified] deficiencies and weaknesses.”
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