Clery Act case continues

An investigation into Marshall University's possible violations of the Clery Act could take six months to complete, a lawyer with the Student Press Law Center said.

Attorney advocate Adam Goldstein said because of the multiple issues that are potentially being investigated, the investigation will take a while.

In an October interview with The Parthenon, U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman Jane Glickman said the department could not comment until the review of Marshall had been completed. The department did not respond to recent phone calls.

A late release of annual crime statistics by Marshall University was said to be the reason for the investigation. Under the Clery Act, federally-funded institutions are required to release the statistics to students, faculty and staff by Oct. 1, but Marshall didn't release the statistics until Oct. 14 because of what Director of Public Safety James Terry said was a confusion of the deadline with an Oct. 18 deadline to report the findings to the Department of Education.

Goldstein said that although the missed deadline was said to be the reason, he expected the department would investigate additional possible violations by the university.

Goldstein said he thought the Marshall University Police Department's practice of keeping two separate record books in particular would likely be subject to the Department of Education's scrutiny.

"If this has been covered in the local press, I guarantee you that the Department of Education knows about it," Goldstein said. "They're not going to give the institution the benefit of the doubt."

Goldstein added that — by his understanding — Clery Act investigations are uncommon.

"You have to really mess up to have a Clery Act investigation against you," he said. "It's not that frequently enforced of a law. You have to defy it for a certain period of time."

Goldstein said he could only think of about a dozen instances in which enforcement actions were levied under the act. The Clery Act was enacted in 1990.

Goldstein also said he thought a recent change in the record-keeping policies by the MUPD was a direct result of the Department of Education's investigation and media coverage.

"It doesn't sound like the university started correcting it until they heard the investigation was happening," he said. "That's a little bit like going to the dentist after your teeth fall out.

"The language of the Clery hasn't changed since before the investigation started to now, when the investigation has started. The only thing that's changed is that they know someone is watching."

Terry and Marshall University Chief of Staff Matt Turner were unavailable for comment.

Sam Turley can be contacted at turley60@marshall.edu.