A missed research opportunity for effective prevention: Clery Act Timely Warning Notices

Abstract

The Clery Act was created to provide transparency around campus safety, including sexual assault. This includes making timely warnings to the campus community about safety threats on campus. While all universities are mandated to follow the Clery Act, the legislation does not provide guidance on what language universities should employ, how much leeway an institution has in determining if a sexual assault represents an immediate public safety threat, or recommended best practices for Timely Warning Notices. The need for guidance is evident to address timeliness, language, and prevention science. Victim blaming, racial/ethnic stereotypes and LGBTQ + inclusivity can all be implied through the nature of recommendations that colleges offer. Language matters, especially when timely warnings are one of the few forms of communication a university sends to everyone affiliated with their institution. We provide recommended next steps for researching timely warnings as a sexual assault prevention tool.

Keywords:

• Administration
• Clery Act
• gender
• health education
• prevention
• sexual assault

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of United States of America and received approval from the Utah State University.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by the Department of Kinesiology, the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services of Utah State University.