Campus Security Authorities

Responsibilities of Campus Security Authorities

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (the “Clery Act”), requires college and universities to compile and publish statistics on certain criminal offenses that occur on or adjacent to university properties.

Although Indiana University strongly encourages everyone to report any crime that occurs on or around campus, the Clery Act requires certain crimes reported to a Campus Security Authority (CSA) be included in those annual statistics. Therefore, CSAs must be identified and trained in their reporting responsibilities. If CSAs fail to report and/or if the university has not properly identified and trained these individuals, it can cause the university to suffer significant fines and jeopardize Title IV funding.

Report a crime as a Campus Security Authority

What is a Campus Security Authority?

A Campus Security Authority is a term used in the Clery Act to describe someone who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities. The regulations that govern the Clery Act (34 CFR 668.46) define a CSA as:

A campus police department or a campus security department of an institution.
Any individual or individuals who have responsibility for campus security but who do not constitute a campus police department or a campus security department...such as an individual who is responsible for monitoring entrance into institutional property.
Any individual or organization specified in an institution’s statement of campus security policy as an individual or organization to which students and employees should report criminal offenses.
An official of an institution who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including, but not limited to, student housing, student discipline, and campus judicial proceedings.
Pastoral and professional counselors are not considered a campus security authority when acting in their roles as a pastoral or professional counselor.

How to know if you are a Campus Security Authority

At IU, position information is used to assist in the identification of positions that may qualify an individual to be a CSA. However, position details cannot identify every position that has CSA responsibilities, therefore it is also up to individuals to review their position responsibilities and comply with the training and reporting requirements if their position fits into the definition of a Campus Security Authority.

Campus Security Authority responsibilities

CSAs and their supervisors must:

Understand their reporting obligation and the types of information they must share. This understanding is obtained by completing the CSA training annually.
As a CSA, you must immediately contact IUPD to share the information that was reported to you. Under the Clery Act, a crime is considered “reported” as soon as it is brought to the attention of a CSA, and in some situations an immediate warning to the campus community might be necessary.

Fulfilling the annual training obligation

Training materials are located in IU’s Canvas system. The training takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. CSAs are required to review the training materials annually.

View the Campus Security Authority training

Information that is reportable under the Clery Act

Certain crimes, “Clery Act Crimes,” occurring on “Clery Reportable Geography” must be reported to IUPD.

IUPD will analyze the information and determine if it qualifies for a crime alert to be sent, if it needs to be included on the daily crime log, and if it should be included in the Annual Disclosure of Crime Statistics (located in the Annual Security Report).

See definitions of Clery reportable crimes

How to report a Clery Reportable Crime to IUPD

If you are made aware of a Clery reportable crime, you can report in any of the following ways:

If there is an emergency, or a serious and continuing threat to anyone, call 911 or the police immediately.
If the incident is not an emergency, or serious and continuing threat, you can make a report by contacting the IUPD division located on your campus. You may also fill out a CSA Crime Report Form. Reports should be made to IUPD immediately.

Dual role as a “Responsible Employee” under Title IX

CSAs, as defined in the Clery Act, and Responsible Employees, as defined in Title IX guidance, are very similar in the scope of their responsibilities and obligation to report certain information to designated university officials.

However, these roles are also different in terms of the types of information that must be reported and who that information should be reported to. Additional information about the differences and similarities in these roles can be found on IU’s Stop Sexual Violence website.

Learn more about “Responsible Employees” under Title IX