Virginia Tech officials are declining to release initial findings of a U.S. Department of Education investigation into the university’s Clery Act compliance during the April 16, 2007 campus shootings.
According to documents obtained by the Collegiate Times, the Department of Education sent a request for documents to President Charles Steger on Sept. 4, 2007. The university complied on Oct. 3, 2007.
Hincker said the university received initial findings from the Department of Education, “a couple weeks ago,” but will not release them, citing a Freedom of Information Act exception.
The exception cited grants an exemption to “Working papers and correspondence of the Office of the Governor; Lieutenant Governor; the Attorney General; the members of the General Assembly or the Division of Legislative Services; the mayor or chief executive officer of any political subdivision of the Commonwealth; or the president or other chief executive officer of any public institution of higher education in Virginia.”
It goes on to define “working papers” as “those records prepared by or for an above-named public official for his personal or deliberative use.”
Megan Rhyne, a Virginia Coalition for Open Government representative, said in an e-mail the initial findings might not qualify as a working paper because Tech did not commission the investigation.
“If the university asked for it, then, yes, for as long as the president uses the report to craft future statements/policies/responses, then it is and remains a working paper,” her response to the Collegiate Times said. “If the study was initiated independently of the university and the president has been given an advance copy as a courtesy, then it seems the ‘prepared by or for’ language would not apply.”
Hincker said the findings are working papers because Steger is preparing to respond to them.
“This is a draft report for the president’s deliberation so he can respond to the (Department of Education) and they can issue then a final report,” Hincker said. “They have asked us to respond to this draft report.”
Jane Glickman, a Department of Education spokeswoman, described the same process as Hincker and said the final report would not be completed soon.
“They have a chance to respond to it and provide input and we will then come out with what we call the ‘Final program review determination letter,’” Glickman said. “That is public, but that is months away.”
Hincker said the university would grant any requests to the information if it were a final report. According to Hincker, offering the university a chance to respond to initial findings is standard Department of Education procedure.
“It’s not like we’re trying to keep secrets,” Hincker said. “The issue here is that it’s an opportunity for the university to evaluate the analysis and provide our response to the (Department of Education). We’re just following their process.”
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.