ENFORCER
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National Campus Safety Awareness Month
In Memory of Jeanne Clery 1966-1986

By Lieutenant Theresa McKinnon
Professional
Accountability Unit

Another school year has began for Meharry Medical College and many othercollegesanduniversities allover the country. The primary focus for the Department of Public Safety andSecurity (DPSS) is to promotesafety awareness for students, faculty, staff, andvisitors of the Meharrycampus.  College is supposed to be an exciting timefilled withwonderful experiences and opportunities. Unfortunately, campusesacross the world are faced with all types of challenges fromoutside elements with crime being the biggest concern.  According to the U.S. Department of Education, a total of 84 homicides, 7,941 sex offenses, 9,296 aggravated assaults, and 3,367 arsons were reported “on-campus” from 2001 to 2003.  September is considered to be the most unsafe month for students all over the world.  According to Security on Campus, Inc., the first several weeks of college have been nicknamed “The Red Zone” because of the high risk that new students have for being sexually assaulted.

The Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act was signed by President George Bush in 1990.  Now this act is known as the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.  This federal law requires all college and universities (including Meharry) to disclose information about crime on and around campus. Schools that fail to comply will face severe penalties by the Department of Education. 

The “Clery Act” is named in memory of Jeanne Clery who was tortured and murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University in April of 1986.  Jeanne’s parents, Howard and Connie Clery discovered that students at Lehigh University as well as other colleges were not notified about violent crimes on or around campus.  This is when the Clery’s began their crusade to protect college students allover the world and make them aware of potential dangers and threats.  Through their hard work and dedication, they have established many successful     
programs and organizations dedicated to the prevention of crime

The Sexual Victimization of College Women

Approx. 3% of college-aged women experience an attempted and/or completed rape during the current college year.
Of a study of 123 rape victims, 22.8% were victimized more than once.
For every 1,000 women on a college campus, there will be approximately 35 incidents of rape.
For both completed and attempted rapes, the victim knew his or her attacker 9 out of 10 times.
Only 11.8% of sexual victimization incidents occur between 6 am to 6 pm; most occur at night. Two out of three of rape victims tell someone about their assault, but 5% report it to the police.
In a sample of 581 college women, 13.1% had been stalked during the given school year.   

Welcome the New Employees of Campus Security

Mr. Jonathan L. Batey

Position:  Security Officer