SMU released its Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for the SMU Main, Plano and Taos campuses Oct. 1.
The report details all campus and near-campus crimes between 2012 and 2014, showing the decrease or increase in the number of crimes or safety procedures per category, ranging from sexual assault to burglary to the number of fire drills conducted on campus.
According to The Jean Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Act, referred to most commonly as the Clery Act, “each institution of higher education in the United States which participates in federal student aid programs must produce and distribute an annual report containing crime statistics and statements of security policy.”
According to the report, the Clery Act serves to “provide the campus community with accurate, complete and timely information about the crime and the safety of the campus environment so they can make informed decisions to keep themselves safe.”
This report is issued Oct. 1 every year. It details the act’s intentions and response plans, and defines terms discussed in the report. Statistical data of crimes does not appear until page 24.
There are some highlights of this year’s report that need to be noted.
While the number of forcible sex offenses remains consistent, the number of sexual assaults reported to faculty members has gone from zero per year in 2012 to three in 2014. This could have something to do with the Sexual Assault Task Force, spearheaded by President R. Gerald Turner, SMU deans and students in the past few years. These statistics show that more sexual assaults are being reported to faculty who are educated in taking the steps needed to report and handle such events.
There was a decrease in aggravated sexual assault, while burglary spiked in 2013, and both dating violence and stalking spiked in 2014. In fact, in 2012 and 2013, there were no reports of stalking on campus, but that statistic grew in 2014 with two reports.
Liquor law violations resulting in arrest have grown as well, increasing from 31 on campus in 2012 to 71 on campus in 2014. In addition, liquor law violations that have resulted in judicial referrals have grown from 246 in 2012 to 354 in 2014.
The report also notes statistics from the Plano and Taos campuses, though the only notable statistic is that in 2012, there were four drug violations on the Taos campus. This number dropped to zero in 2013 and 2014.
Find this year’s full Clery Report here.
