Steger has been asked to respond within 60 days, but there is also the possibility to receive a 30-day extension from the Department of Education.
Hincker said the university has not yet applied for the 30-day extension, but likely will. He said the response will likely be sent in “either late March or late April.”
The Department of Education conducts routine checks of each university’s Clery Act compliance.
“We review a school’s compliance with (the Clery Act) as a matter of course when we do what we call ‘regular program compliance reviews,’” Glickman said. “To get money for Pell Grants and loans, they have to also be in compliance with Clery.”
However, Glickman said this is a more detailed investigation that is not frequently conducted.
“We do regular compliance reviews, but this is much, much more in-depth than we do on a regular basis,” Glickman said.
She did not elaborate on potential consequences of the more intensive review.
Security on Campus, Inc., initially filed a complaint to the Department of Education in August 2007, stating the campus community should have been warned of Seung-Hui Cho’s initial shootings in West Ambler-Johnston Hall.
Daniel Carter, the group’s director of public policy, said he wants the report to be available to improve the response to future university crimes.
“What we really wanted by having this review is an analysis of where there were gaps — where things went wrong, so they could be corrected,” Carter said. “I’m hopeful that’s what the report will speak to so that lessons can be learned going forward.”
Security on Campus is a non-profit group founded by the parents of Jeanne Clery, the namesake of the Clery Act, which was enacted in 1990 and requires universities to report crime statistics and give communities timely warnings of campus crimes. Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University in 1986.
Carter was disappointed the university did not release the investigation’s initial findings. The exception does not require the university to withhold the documents, but gives it the right to do so.
He also said Security on Campus has filed a FOIA request with the Department of Education, which has been acknowledged but not answered.
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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 24 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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what Hincker means to say is, "we really screwed up...we're going to try to put off anything definitively until less attention is given to this topic". in other words, we'll find any loophole we can find under the freedom of information act!
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