Date of Award

Summer 8-17-2020

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

EdD Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Department

Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Advisor

Richard Blissett, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Robert Kelchen, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kevin Majewski, Ph.D.

Keywords

Clery Act, Crime, Two-Year Colleges, Campus Safety, Sexual Violence

Abstract

The Clery Act is a consumer protection law intended to protect students by forcing institutions of higher education to be transparent about campus crime, as the concern is that many colleges and universities are underreporting or nonreporting campus crime statistics. This study included two research questions. The first question, “What are the common themes determined in the audits concerning Clery Act violations for two-year schools?,” was addressed by conducting a deductive content analysis by reviewing each U.S. Department of Education (USDOEd) Clery Act compliance audit in the research sample. The USDOEd, Federal Aid Data Center’s public database, was the source of the compliance audit data. The analysis of two-year colleges with respect to the Clery Center common themes showed that these schools had the same issues as four-year colleges when dealing with campus safety issues regarding the Clery Act. No new themes emerged. This information is pertinent to institutional leaders in noting common compliance issues to develop strategies to be proactive in identifying and correcting problems specific to their institution. The second question, “Is there a difference in the Annual Security Report crime reporting numbers before and after an audit review for two-year schools?,” was addressed by conducting a quantitative data analysis, reviewing the crime statistics before, during, and after each USDOEd Clery Act review for each school in the study sample. The campus crime statistical data was retrieved from the USDOEd, Office of Postsecondary Education’s publicly accessed database. The analysis revealed that while under federal scrutiny, sexual assaults more than doubled, which supports the hypothesis that there is a jump in crime statistics during the audit period. This information is pertinent to institutional leaders to help increase school resources dedicated to Clery Act compliance.

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