Abstract
Abstract of MAKING CAMPUSES SAFER AND STAYING OUT OF COURT: LEADERSHIP PRACTICES FACILITATING COMPLIANCE WITH THE JEANNE CLERY ACT by Martha M. Walters Traditionally college and university campuses were thought to be insulated from negative consequences of the outside world. The truth could not be further from this viewpoint. The fact is, college campuses are microcosms of larger society (Briggs, 2010; Katel, 2011). Students have fallen victim to violent crimes perpetrated by fellow students and others when they least expected it. The on-campus residence hall murder of one such unsuspecting student was the catalyst for change when the parents of murder victim Jeanne Clery lobbied the federal government to pass the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 U.S.C. §1092 (f) Public Law 105-244) or better known today as the Clery Act. The Clery Act requires all universities and colleges who receive Title IV federal student financial aid assistance to report crime statistics, to disclose campus safety policy statements and to disseminate information to current and prospective students and employees (20 U.S.C. §1092 (f) Public Law 105-244). xi Despite enactment of the landmark federal campus crime reporting law 22 years ago, compliance with the mandates of the Jeanne Clery Act remains inconsistent at postsecondary educational institutions. The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to provide new information regarding factors which impede and or enhance compliance with the Clery Act by California Community Colleges; 2) to identify leadership styles and practices which facilitate compliance with the Clery Act; and 3) to determine whether adequate resources have been devoted to complying with the Clery Act. This study identifies how the origins of higher education and In Loco Parentis have contributed to a mindset in postsecondary education which favors, in many cases, internal handling of campus crime and related matters rather than the transparency the public and consumers demand. The new era of student-as-consumer has ushered in the necessity that postsecondary institutions provide honest and accurate information in their Annual Security Report (ASR). Recent examples of post-secondary institutional non-compliance with the Clery Act and the costly consequences of such a course of action are identified and analyzed using a systems theory lens combined with a multiple paradigm approach to problem solving. The best components of positivism, social constructionism and postmodernism are combined to offer a new way to analyze the difficult topic of compliance with the Clery Act. The sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach was purposefully selected for this study because it collects qualitative data in the first phase and confirms or expands upon that data by utilizing quantitative data in the second phase (Creswell, xii 2009). Accordingly, the first phase of this study collected qualitative data by conducting 11 interviews of participants holding high level leadership positions at selected California community colleges. Qualitative data were analyzed using open-coding to discover emerging themes from participant interviews. The second phase involved the collection of quantitative data by developing a survey on issues related to compliance and institutional leadership. The survey was emailed to targeted participants employed at California community colleges tasked with responsibilities associated with the collection of data for inclusion in their institution’s Annual Security Report (ASR) or preparation of the report itself. The researcher discovered unexpected data during the quantitative portion of the study in that ease of website access to Clery Act information varied widely by community college location with a more profound effect noted at rural and smaller size community colleges. The researcher also experienced an unwillingness to participate in the survey or to provide necessary information by many smaller rural area community colleges. Although the survey results cannot be generalized to the larger population, the data is valuable in that it provides a baseline, which may benefit future research in this area. This study is important because it contributes to a limited body of scholarly literature regarding compliance with the Clery Act at the community college level by highlighting the following conclusions: 1) leadership, at every level, impacts an institution’s ability to successfully comply with the Clery Act; 2) adequate resource have xiii not been devoted to compliance with the Clery Act; and 3) compliance with the Clery Act is inconsistent and suffers from a lack of guidance by the Chancellor’s office. Keywords/phrases: The Clery Act, compliance, Annual Security Report, campus crime, campus safety, risk assessment, risk management, emergency preparedness, leadership theory and practices, systems theory, positivism, social constructivism and postmodernism.