The U.S. Department of Education has concluded that Eastern Michigan University violated federal law by failing to warn students of a murder on its campus in December.
“EMU remained silent despite the fact that its university police department had identified a suspect and had been engaged in a homicide investigation with other local law enforcement agencies,” the Education Department said in a draft report released today. The report denounces the university for “serious violations of the Clery Act,” the federal law that requires colleges and universities to disclose information about crimes on their campuses, as well as to warn students of threats to their safety.
Eastern Michigan’s Board of Regents received the 18-page document on Monday and released it today. “By making this report immediately available, we are continuing our commitment to total transparency,” James F. Stapleton, a regent, said in a written statement. This spring Mr. Stapleton led a subcommittee of regents that hired a Detroit commission law firm to investigate the university’s handling of the murder. Last month the board released a report on that investigation, which was highly critical of the university.
The Education Department’s “campus security program review” — which began after a complaint from the watchdog group Security on Campus — largely confirms the law firm’s report. The review enumerates Eastern Michigan’s failures in the case, including an absence of the Clery Act’s required “timely warning” that a crime had occured on the campus. The review also cited the university for, among other things, lacking adequate crime-reporting policies and lacking properly disclosed crime statistics. The report outlines steps the university must take to comply with the law.
Eastern Michigan can respond to the findings before the Education Department releases its final report. After that, the agency will most likely impose fines on university.
The regents say they plan to make announcements about university personnel in the coming weeks. —Sara Lipka
