The Clery Act is a federal law that requires institutions of higher education to have in place certain security and safety policies, and to disclose certain crime statistics. Director of Clery Compliance Marijohn Boyd collaborates with entities across Clemson’s campus to ensure the University is compliant with these laws, that employees are properly trained in their responsibilities related to this and conducts outreach to students to share campus safety resources.
We sat down with Marijohn to learn more about her role and the new Tigers Share because Tigers Care campaign.
What is your role as Director of Clery Compliance?
My role primarily consists of three different elements: compliance, training and outreach. Compliance, of course, ensures that we are annually reporting Clery crimes that happen on or near our campuses. Our annual numbers, along with our campus safety policies, training, services and resources can be found in the annual Security and Fire Safety report, available on the CUPD website.
A large part of my training role is working with Campus Security Authorities (CSA). These are individuals who have significant responsibility for student and campus activities. These include, but aren’t limited to, most of our Student Affairs full-time and student staff, Student Support Services staff, Athletic coaches and support staff, CUPD officers, and the Office of Access Compliance and Education. This training ensures that all staff who are identified as CSAs on campus understand their roles, how to report and resources for support. This allows our students to know that there are many across campus who can report and get them connected to resources to contribute to overall campus safety.
I also participate in outreach to our campus community to help students understand all the safety and reporting resources available to them.
How might students engage or interact with you in this role?
I really enjoy engaging with students. They may see me in a training session if they are a student staff member. They may see me at tabling events on campus, sharing information about reporting and safety resources across campus, or at campus-wide events that focus on campus safety. Occasionally, you may find me in a police car with one of our officers, so feel free to wave or say hello. I’m always happy to be a resource, so feel free to email me with questions, concerns, or ideas about how I can continue to assist with overall education and safety awareness on campus.
What is the Clery Act?
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, also known as the Clery Act, is a federal law that requires institutions of higher education to have in place certain security and safety policies, and to disclose certain crime statistics. The Clery Act was named for Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old student who was raped and murdered in her dorm room when she was a freshman at Lehigh University in 1986. After this tragedy, her parents became advocates for ensuring students and families knew what crimes had happened on and near college campuses throughout the U.S. At its core, the Clery Act is all about safety and transparency.
Public Safety just launched the Tigers Share because Tigers Care campaign. What does Tigers Share because Tigers Care mean to you?
The right thing to do as a member of the Clemson community is if you see something, you say something and you can take it a step further to do something. This is where our new campaign “Tigers Share because Tigers Care” comes in. The Clemson Family is a term that is used to describe and embody what it means to be a Tiger and at the core of that is caring about your fellow students and supporting each other.
This campaign is a challenge and a reminder to every member of the University community to be an active bystander and help your fellow Tigers when they need it. Sharing information or reporting an incident to CUPD or to a faculty or staff member is not tattle-telling but caring for them. It allows those of us in the role of providing resources of support and safety to properly respond and support the person who needs it.
As a Tiger myself, both as an alumnus and an employee, I know and feel the impact of the Clemson Family caring for me and, in my role, I hope to encourage and instill that value in others.