In the largest penalty ever imposed under the Clery Act, the U.S. Department of Education has fined Eastern Michigan University $357,500 for failing to warn the campus of a student’s murder, among other violations of the federal crime-reporting law.
A senior administrator at Eastern Michigan said the university accepted the department’s findings but might appeal the amount of the fine.
Campus officials discovered the body of Laura Dickinson in her dormitory room last December, with strong indications that she had been the victim of a violent crime. The university issued a public statement announcing her death but denying any foul play, an impression it did not correct until two months later, when another student was charged with rape and murder in the case (The Chronicle, March 23). The former vice president for student affairs said that he thought disclosing any information would compromise the criminal investigation.
‘An Egregious Violation’
The Education Department, announcing its findings in a letter to Eastern Michigan that was released on Tuesday, called the university’s response to Ms. Dickinson’s death “an egregious violation of the regulations and of its responsibility to its students, employees, parents, and the public.” The department found that the university had violated the law on 13 counts, each carrying a $27,500 fine.
According to the letter, Eastern Michigan not only failed to issue the “timely warning” the Clery Act requires but it also lacked a timely-warning policy, as well as the “administrative capability ... to adequately fulfill its campus-security responsibilities.” In addition, the university failed to maintain a campus crime log as required by the law, and from 2003 to 2005, it improperly disclosed crime statistics, incompletely reported them, and lacked policies on the preparation of such statistics, the Education Department found.
Eastern Michigan is the fourth institution to be fined under the Clery Act, which was passed in 1990. Ten years later, Mount St. Clare College (now called Ashford University), in Iowa, was fined $25,000, and Salem International University, in West Virginia, was fined $250,000 in 2005. Mount St. Clare and Salem International each appealed their fines, which were reduced to $15,000 and $200,000, respectively. Miami University, in Ohio, paid a $27,500 fine in 2005.
Donald M. Loppnow, Eastern Michigan’s executive vice president and provost, said that the university may appeal its fine. He plans to request a hearing with the Education Department.
The department maintains some flexibility in how it sets fines, and Mr. Loppnow said he had a few questions. “We want to address their thinking on the magnitude of the fines,” he said. “We want to have a comprehensive understanding of the rationale used.”
But the university is not questioning the department’s findings, he said. “Whatever the ultimate fine is, we’ll pay it.”
Eastern Michigan officials had expected to be fined and had set aside funds for that purpose, Mr. Loppnow said. The Education Department began investigating the case last spring and sharply criticized the university in a report released in July. The mounting controversy led to the ouster of three top administrators, including the president.
In a formal response to the Education Department, Eastern Michigan conceded all violations of the Clery Act. It also pointed out recent improvements to its campus safety, including increased police patrols and staff hours in residence halls, training on the Clery Act, additional security officers hired to work with the public-safety department, and an independent security audit.
The Education Department’s letter acknowledges such efforts but says they do not correct past offenses.
Tougher Enforcement Expected
That strict response signals a tightening enforcement of the Clery Act, said S. Daniel Carter, senior vice president of Security on Campus, a watchdog group.
“It was the lack of pressure on institutions to feel like they had to comply that led to the lapses by EMU,” Mr. Carter said. In the past decade, he said, the Education Department has found more than a dozen institutions in violation of the Clery Act, but it has fined only three.
“Their approach was to try to work cooperatively with schools to bring them into compliance,” Mr. Carter said. But in 2005, the Education Department published a Clery Act handbook, better informing institutions of their responsibilities under the law. Last year Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, held a hearing to call attention to compliance with and enforcement of the law. And recent crises on campuses around the country have increased students’ and parents’ expectations of timely warnings.
The era of little public scrutiny and lax enforcement by the Education Department is over, Mr. Carter said. “They’re going to start enforcing the act,” he said. “And schools are going to have to start paying attention to the requirements.”
This case has cost Eastern Michigan at least $4-million so far, including the fines, last week’s $2.5-million settlement with Ms. Dickinson’s family, severance payments to the fired officials, an investigation of the incident by a private law firm, and various security improvements.
