PHOTO | Submitted
All college campuses, including Arkansas Tech University, are federally required to release crime statistics from the past three years under the Jeanne Clery Act.
Students and staff were emailed on Oct. 1 the “Arkansas Tech University 2022 Combined Annual Security Report and Fire Safety Report,” an 84-page document that details the numbers and types of crimes on campus.
The report shows the results of the crime statistics from 2019, 2020, and 2021 side-by-side for comparison.
This year’s report showed little change over the three years.
The report details that drug and alcohol violations are currently the leading violations at Tech. Drug law violations in 2021 and 2020 numbered 19, down from 2019, which totaled 28. Alcohol violations in 2021 number 20, significantly lower than in 2020 and 2019, which totaled 44 and 37, respectively.
According to the report, six cases of on-campus rape were reported in 2021, compared to two in 2020 and three in 2019.
There was one fondling case in both 2021 and 2020, compared to none in 2019.
The report shows four cases of burglary in 2021, lower than eight cases in 2020 and six cases in 2019.
There were no reported cases of weapon violations in 2021 or 2020, though there was one case reported in 2019.
The report shows there were two cases of domestic violence reported in 2021, up from one point reported in 2020 and zero cases reported in 2019. Dating violence violations were lower in 2021, with one case reported, compared to four cases in 2020 and 2019.
There were two cases of stalking reported in 2021, with three cases reported in 2020 and two cases in 2019.
This report became a federal requirement in 1990 due to the crimes committed against Jeanne Clery. Clery was a freshman at Lehigh University in 1986 when she was raped and murdered in her campus residence.
She was unaware of the high crime rates at the school, and her parents demanded a change and filed a lawsuit against the university. Her parents argued that had they known Lehigh’s crime rate, their daughter would not have attended.
Her murder led to greater scrutiny of crimes on college campuses throughout the United States.
In 1990, Congress passed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. This ensured that all crime statistics were conveyed to students, so they were aware of the risks around them.
