Campus Security Authority

• A campus police department or a campus security department of an institution. If your institution has a campus police or security department, those individuals are campus security authorities. A security department can be as small as one person.

  • Any individual or individuals who have responsibility for campus security but who do not constitute a campus police department or a campus security department (e.g., an individual who is responsible for monitoring the entrance into institutional property), including individuals who provide security at a campus parking kiosk, monitor access into a campus facility, act as event security, or escort students around campus after dark.

  • 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. If you direct the campus community to report criminal incidents to anyone or any organization in addition to police or security-related personnel, that individual or organization is a campus security authority.

• 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. An official is defined as any person who has the authority and the duty to take action or respond to particular issues on behalf of the institution.

Some additional examples of CSAs are, but not limited to: academic deans; student affairs/residential life officials; coordinator of Greek affairs (or related positions); athletic administrators including director, assistant directors and coaches; student activities coordinators and staff; student judicial officials; faculty and staff advisors to student organizations; student center building staff; student peer education advisors; and administrators at satellite campuses.

Under Clery, a crime is “reported” when it is brought to the attention of a campus security authority or local law enforcement personnel by a victim, witness, other third party or even the offender. It doesn’t matter whether or not the individuals involved in the crime, or reporting the crime, are associated with the institution. If a campus security authority receives the crime information and believes it was provided in good faith, he or she should document it as a crime report. In “good faith” means there is a reasonable basis for believing that the information is not simply rumor or hearsay. That is, there is little or no reason to doubt the validity of the information.

Therefore, what you must disclose are statistics from reports of alleged criminal incidents. It is not necessary for the crime to have been investigated by the police or a campus security authority, nor must a finding of guilt or responsibility be made to disclose the statistic.