According to federal law, specifically The Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act of 1990 (recently re-named the Clery Act), Pittsburg State University is required to report “statistics concerning the occurrence of certain criminal offenses reported to the local police agency or any official of the institution who is defined as a “Campus Security Authority.”
The definition of “Campus Security Authority”, according the federal law, is as follows: “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.” For example, a dean of students who oversees student housing, a student center, or student extra-curricular activities, has significant responsibility for student and campus activities. Similarly, a director of athletics, team coach, and faculty advisor to a student group also have significant responsibility for student and campus activities. A single teaching faculty member is unlikely to have significant responsibility for student and campus activities, except when serving as an advisor to a student group. A physician in a campus health center or a counselor in a counseling center whose only responsibility is to provide care to students are unlikely to have significant responsibility for student and campus activities. Also, clerical staff are unlikely to have significant responsibility for student and campus activities.
The criminal offenses that we are required to report statistics for are murder/non-negligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, sex offenses (forcible and non-forcible), robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson, liquor law violations, drug violations and/or illegal weapons possession.
We are also required to report statistics for hate (bias) related crimes for the following classifications: murder/non-negligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, sex offenses (forcible and non-forcible), robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny, vandalism, intimidation, and simple assault.
We are required to report offenses that occur on campus, in residence facilities, in non-campus property and on public property.
If employees are aware of any crimes that occurred, it is important that he/she forward the information at the time of notification. It would be very helpful if he/she could provide the date and the location of the incident. In addition, a brief description of the incident so that the crime can be appropriately classified in accordance with the crime definitions published by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
In addition, if a serious crime that may cause an ongoing threat to the University community is reported to anyone who is defined as a Campus Security Authority (CSA), that individual should not wait until the end of the year to report that incident. The institution has a responsibility to notify the campus community about any crimes which pose an ongoing threat to the community, and as such, Campus Security Authorities are obligated by law to report crimes immediately to the University. If there is any question about whether an ongoing threat exists, immediately contact University Police at 620-235-4624 to discuss the matter further.