Annual Campus Security & Fire Safety Report (Clery Report)

On or before October 1 of each year, Teachers College publishes the Teachers College Annual Campus Security & Fire Safety Report.  It includes crime data for the three prior calendar years.  In response to VAWA, commencing in 2014, all Annual Campus Security & Fire Safety reports will include data on domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. 

Clery reportable crimes:

Timely Warnings, a.k.a. Clery Crime Alerts
A critical part of this law requires the College to issue safety alerts about crimes that may pose an ongoing risk to the community.

Hate Crimes

Teachers College, Columbia University must also report statistics for hate (bias) related crimes.  Hate crimes are defined as any of the above offenses (Group A- below) and any other crime involving bodily injury reported to local police agencies or to a campus security authority that manifest evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator's bias, or the perpetrator perceived the person to be in one of the protected group categories.  There are eight types of bias categories as per the FBI's UCR Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Guide:             

Race:  A preformed negative attitude toward a group of persons who possess common physical characteristics such as skin color, eyes, and hair, facial features genetically transmitted which distinguish them as a distinct division of humankind, e.g., Asians, blacks, whites.

Gender:  A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons because those persons are either male or female.  Gender bias is a Clery Act-specific term not found in the FBI's Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines.                                    

Religion:  A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons who share the same religious beliefs regarding the origin and purpose of the universe and the existence or nonexistence of a supreme being, e.g., Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Muslims, atheists, etc. 

National Origin: Ethnicity/National Origin Bias- A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of people whose members identify with each other through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, common culture (often including a shared religion), and idealogy that stresses common ancestry.  (This definition is not available in the FBI Hate Crimes Guidelines but is only defined as "Ethnicity/National Origin" in the ED handbook)

Gender Identity: A person's internal sense of being male, female, or a combination of both; that inner sense of a person's gender may differ from the person's gender assigned at birth.  Gender identity bias is a pre-formed negative opinion or attitude toward a person or group of persons based on their actual or perceived gender identity, e.g., bias against transgender or gender non-conforming individuals.                         

Sexual orientation:  A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their sexual attraction toward, and responsiveness to, members of their own sex or members of the opposite sex, e.g., gays, lesbians, heterosexuals.                                 

Ethnicity/national origin:  A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons of the same race or national origin who share common or similar traits, languages, customs, and traditions, e.g., Arabs, Hispanics.    

Disability:  A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their physical or mental impairment/challenges, whether such disability is temporary or permanent, congenital or acquired by heredity, accident, injury, advanced age, or illness.                           

 

Hate crimes include any offense in the following two groups:

Group A	Group B
Murder and Non-negligent manslaughter	Larceny-theft
Forcible sex offenses	Simple assault
Nonforcible sex offenses	Intimidation
Robbery Destruction/damage/vandalism of property
Aggravated assault
Burglary
Motor vehicle theft
Arson

 

Hate (bias) crimes in Group B (Group B-above) are by the type of bias as defined below for the following classifications: larceny-theft, Destruction/damage/vandalism of property, intimidation, and simple assault (see definitions below). 

Larceny: The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

Vandalism: To willfully or maliciously destroy, injure, disfigure, or deface any public or private property, real or personal, without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control by cutting, tearing, breaking, marking, painting, drawing, covering with filth, or any other such means as may be specified by local law.

Intimidation: To unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through threatening words and other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to physical attack.

Simple Assault: An unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.

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Note: If a hate crime occurs where there is an incident involving intimidation, vandalism, larceny, simple assault, or other bodily injuries, the law requires that the statistic be reported as a hate crime even though there is no requirement to report the crime classification in any other area of the compliance document.

 

A hate or bias-related crime is not a separate, distinct crime but is the commission of a criminal offense motivated by the offender's bias.  For example, a subject assaults a victim, which is a crime.  If the facts of the case indicate that the offender was motivated to commit the offense because of his bias against the victim's race, gender, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc... The assault is then also classified as a hate/bias crime.

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Questions?

Please contact the Office of Public Safety at 212-678-3111 if you have any questions or concerns about your responsibilities under this law.  

 

For emergencies, call 911.  Public Safety can be reached 24/7 at (212) 678-3333.