As colleges and universities organize their responses to COVID-19, it’s a reminder that every day there are campus professionals navigating unexpected emergencies and tragedies with care to best support their communities. Emergency responders, student affairs staff, counselors, and many others are working to ensure their institutions have the information and support they need while navigating uncertainty.

We’ve had two common questions at Clery Center related to the intersections of the Clery Act in navigating institutional response to COVID-19:

1. Should we be considering any Clery Act alerting requirements as we consider campus response to COVID-19?

Yes. Unlike timely warning policies, which are specific to crimes that have already occurred but you believe to be a serious or ongoing threat, your emergency notification policies outline how your institution will notify the campus community when there is an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees, and, as the Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting notes in section 6-2, serious illnesses can be immediate threats to the health or safety of the campus community.

We’re glad campuses are asking this question, and encourage them to look at their emergency notification policies. Who confirms that there is an immediate threat on your campus? Stay connected with medical experts in your community and information available at the state and national level to inform what you need to share and to follow your own policies for doing so. And when you do send out communications, whether they are emergency notifications or other communications with the community, remember to use a multi-modal approach and make the communications accessible to the all of the varying members of your community.

2. My institution is moving to remote classes for the immediate future. Would our daily crime log requirements still apply?

Yes. Any institution that has a campus police or security department is required to maintain a daily crime log. Although students may no longer be on campus, we know for many institutions employees may still be on campus; and often even when the campus is closed public safety personnel are still working. As a reminder, the information captured in your crime log is not just crimes committed by or against students or employees; it’s crimes within your Clery geography and patrol jurisdiction. Unfortunately, the campus may still be a target for certain types of crime, particularly if a potential perpetrator thinks the buildings are unoccupied, so you should continue to record all crimes taking place on campus, in or on noncampus buildings and property or public property, or those that occurred within the patrol jurisdiction of your campus police or security department.

As you manage your individual institutional response, please stay connected to updated information regarding the impact of COVID-19. With that in mind, here are a few websites that may be valuable to you as you do so:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html
• They also released interim guidance for administrators of US institutions of higher education: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-ihe-response.html
• International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP): https://www.theiacp.org/resources/document/law-enforcement-information-on-covid-19
• The International Association of Emergency Managers: https://www.iaem.org/resources/COVID-19
• The National Association of College and University Business Offices (NACUBO): https://www.nacubo.org/Topics/Risk-Management-and-Campus-Security/Emergency-Preparedness/Covid-19-at-your-campus

We know all institutions of higher education and the organizations that work with them are paying attention to expert guidance in order to best safeguard our communities. We’re grateful for the work you do, especially as you make these difficult decisions.