A federal law that forces colleges to track and disclose sexual violence on campus is up for renewal, and the fight over its future is drawing attention to how well schools actually protect students.
The law, known as the Clery Act, requires every college that receives federal funding to collect and publish annual crime statistics, issue timely warnings about threats on campus, and maintain certain rights for victims. It was named for Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh University student raped and murdered in her dorm in 1986.
Congress has repeatedly updated the law over the past three decades. The most recent major rewrite, the 2013 Campus Safer Act, expanded reporting requirements to cover domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
Now advocates say enforcement has lagged. The Clery Act has no independent enforcement agency. The Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office handles compliance reviews, and critics argue the office treats the law as a paperwork exercise rather than a safety mandate.
"Schools are not getting the message that this matters," said one advocate familiar with compliance reviews, speaking to NPR. Fines for violations are capped and rarely imposed at the maximum.
The stakes are high for students. Underreporting remains widespread. A 2019 survey by the Association of American Universities found that fewer than 30 percent of students who experienced nonconsensual sexual contact reported it to campus officials.
Some colleges have pushed back on what they call an unfunded mandate. Administrators say tracking incidents, training staff, and publishing reports costs money that small schools, in particular, struggle to cover.
Victims' advocates counter that the cost of doing nothing is higher. They point to cases where schools failed to warn students about known threats, only to face lawsuits and federal investigations afterward.
Congress has not set a firm timeline for reauthorization. The law remains in effect while lawmakers debate changes, but without action, key provisions could expire or go unenforced.
For now, students and advocates are watching Washington. Whether the Clery Act gets stronger or weaker will depend on a Congress that has shown little urgency on the issue.
