Clery FAQ’s

The Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (Clery Act) is a federal law that requires institutions of higher education (all post-secondary institutions) in the United States to disclose campus security information including specified crime statistics on and near campus. It was first enacted by Congress in 1990 and most recently amended in 2013 by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.

In 1986 Jeanne Clery, a freshman at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University, was murdered and sexually assaulted in her campus residence hall room by another student she didn’t know. Her school hadn’t informed students about 38 violent crimes on campus in the three years preceding her murder. Clery’s parents, Connie & Howard, led the crusade to enact the original Campus Security Act. In 1998, Congress formally named the law in memory of Jeanne Clery.

All institutions of post-secondary education, both public and private, that participate in federal student aid programs must publish and distribute an annual security report as well as notify the campus community of Clery crimes, occurring within a Clery Reportable Location, which represent a serious or continuing threat to members of the campus community and upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving and immediate threat to the health or safety of USC faculty, staff, employees, students, patients and visitors occurring on campus.

USC will publish an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASFSR) documenting the prior three calendar years of Clery Act crime statistics, security policies and procedures, and information on the basic rights guaranteed to victims of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking.

This report must be made available to all current faculty, staff, and students.  In addition, prospective faculty, staff, and students must be notified of the ASFSR’s existence and provided a copy upon request. Paper copies of the report will be available upon request from the USC Department of Public Safety (DPS). In addition, the Office of Admissions and Human Resources will publish a link to the ASFSR with a brief description on their respective web sites.

USC must maintain a daily crime log documenting the “nature, date, time and general location of each crime” reported to DPS within the last 60 days, and the disposition, if known, of the reported crimes. Incidents must be entered into the log within two business days of receiving the report. The Daily Crime Log does not include personally identifiable information about the victim or the accused. The Daily Crime Log is available within DPS, during normal business hours, and on the DPS website [Daily Crime Log].  Requests for public inspection of daily crime log entries beyond 60 days must be made in writing to the Records Manager within DPS and will be made available to the requestor within two business days of the request.

Yes. Individuals at USC who, because of their function, have an obligation under the Clery Act to notify the Office of Clery Act Compliance of potential Clery Crimes that are reported to them, or potential Clery Crimes that they may personally witness. These individuals are designated as Campus Security Authorities based on their position or due to official job duties, ad hoc responsibilities, or volunteer engagements.  The obligation to report potential Clery Act crimes observed by them, or reported to them by other individuals, is based on the report itself, without regard to whether the report has been investigated, substantiated, is plausible, or derives from a confidential source of information.

A designated Campus Security Authority generally is not required to disclose information that would identify a victim of a crime who wishes to remain confidential. However, Campus Security Authorities are required to immediately report alleged Clery Crimes to the Office of Clery Act Compliance, including confidential reports. Campus Security Authorities may satisfy their reporting requirement by reporting directly to DPS, EEO-TIX (for protected class issues) or through the university’s USC Report & Response reporting portal at https://report.usc.edu. Reports will be assessed for inclusion in this report and for ongoing threat or safety issue, which may require an alert to the campus community.

Campus safety alerts include TrojansAlerts, Timely Warnings/crime alerts, and community safety advisory alerts. Some alerts are required by law; therefore usc.edu email addresses cannot opt out of these alerts.

TrojansAlert is an emergency notification system that allows university officials to contact you during an emergency by sending messages via text and email. Students, faculty, and staff are automatically enrolled. To unsubscribe from TrojansAlerts, text STOP to 888777. 

When a serious crime occurs on campus or the surrounding community, DPS gathers information and sends out an email alert to the campus community. We also post the most recent alerts. We use crime alerts to warn you of potential threats but also as a way of seeking your support.

No. Crime statistics must include the number of all reported offenses, without regard to the findings of a court, coroner or jury or the decision of a prosecutor.

Property that is considered by the Clery Act to be (1) on campus, (2) public property within or immediately adjacent to campus, or (3) non-campus buildings or property that the institution owns or controls, is frequented by students, and is used in support of educational purposes; as well as any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization or other institution-associated entity that is officially recognized by the institution Non-campus buildings or property may also include certain University-sponsored overnight trips to locations frequently used by students, controlled by the University (e.g., a lease or rental agreement is in place), and used in support of educational purposes.

Murder & Non-negligent Manslaughter: defined as the willful killing of one human being by another. 

Negligent Manslaughter: is defined as the killing of another person through gross negligence.

Aggravated Assault: is defined as an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.

Arson: any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc. 

Burglary: is the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft.

Robbery: is defined as taking or attempting to take anything of value from the car, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/ or by putting the victim in fear.

Motor Vehicle Theft: is the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

Sexual Assault: Is defined as any sexual act directed against another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent, as well as incest or statutory rape. The following sex offenses fall with the definition of Sexual Assault:

Rape: The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.

Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.

Incest: On-forcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.

Statutory Rape: Non-forcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the age of consent.

Liquor Law Violations: The violation of state and local municipal laws and ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transporting, furnishing, possessing of intoxicating liquor; maintaining unlawful drinking places; bootlegging; operating a still; furnishing liquor to a minor or intemperate person; using a vehicle for illegal transportation of liquor; drinking on a train or public conveyance; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned. (Drunkenness and driving under the influence are not included in this definition.)

Weapons Possession: The violation of laws or ordinances dealing with weapon offenses, regulatory in nature, such as: manufacture, sale, or possession of deadly weapons; carrying deadly weapons, concealed or openly; furnishing deadly weapons to minors; aliens possessing deadly weapons; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.

Drug Abuse Violations: Violations of State and local laws relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs. The relevant substances include: Opium or Cocaine and their derivatives (Morphine, Heroin, Codeine); Marijuana; synthetic narcotics (Demerol, Methadone); and dangerous non-narcotic drugs (Barbiturates, Benzedrine).

Includes all of the crimes listed above that manifest evidence that the victim was chosen based on one of the categories of bias listed below, plus the following crimes.

Larceny-theft: includes, pocket picking, purse snatching, shoplifting, theft from building, theft from motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle parts or accessories, and all other larceny.

Simple Assault: an unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration or loss of consciousness.

Intimidation: to unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

Destruction, damage or vandalism of property: to willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.

Domestic Violence: is defined by the Clery Act as a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim; by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common; by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner; by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred; or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.

Dating Violence: The Clery Act defines Dating Violence as violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

Stalking: Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to (1) fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or (2) suffer substantial emotional distress. For the purpose of this definition: 

• Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about, a person, or interferes with a person’s property.
• Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.
• Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling. 

Hazing: Intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in, a student organization; and causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution of higher education or the organization (such as the physical preparation necessary for participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury including: whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone’s body, or similar activity; (2) causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, or other similar activity; (3) causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances; (4) causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts; any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct; (5) any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law; and any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law.

Student Organization: An organization at an institution of higher education (such as a club, society, association, varsity or junior varsity athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government) in which two or more of the members are students enrolled at the institution of higher education, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution.

The United States Department of Education website has various resources to assist institutions in maintaining full compliance with the Clery Act.  

The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting includes guidelines on how institutions must report and manage Clery compliance issues.

The Clery Center is a national nonprofit dedicated to helping college and university officials meet the standards of the Jeanne Clery Act. The provide the training and resources needed to understand compliance requirements.