Issued:\u202fSeptember 28, 2021 Last Revised: December 6, 2021 Last Reviewed: June 2, 2025 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Applies to: <\/strong>To the entire university community including: <\/strong>Students who are registered or enrolled in University classes or in one of the University\u2019s degree or non-degree programs (\u201cStudents\u201d) Faculty (including part-time, adjunct and visiting faculty), postdoctoral scholars, staff and students (including graduate\/undergraduate student workers and graduate assistants) employed by University of Southern California (\u201cUSC\u201c or the \u201cUniversity\u201c) and including those working for the University\u2019s health system (\u201cUSC Employees\u201d), as well as contractors, vendors, visitors, guests, or other individuals who are participating in or seeking to participate in the University\u2019s education program or activities (\u201cThird Parties\u201d). This policy continues to apply to individuals who are on sabbatical or other leaves, or who are visiting other institutions.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Policy Purpose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The University of Southern California (\u201cUSC\u201d or the \u201cUniversity\u201d) is committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for its faculty, staff, students, alumni, volunteers and visitors. The requirements in this policy are designed to facilitate USC\u2019s compliance with the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (the \u201cClery Act\u201d). The Clery Act requires USC to disclose specified crime report statistics on and near its campuses, to provide other safety and crime information to the campus community in an accurate, complete, and timely manner, and to maintain written policies and procedures implementing the Clery Act.\u202f To maintain a safe and secure environment for its faculty, staff, students, and visitors, and as a recipient of federal financial aid, the University complies with the provisions of the Clery Act.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Scope and Application<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This Policy applies broadly to the entire University community, as described above and in accordance with the regulations outlined in the Clery Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Definitions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Term<\/th>
Definition <\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Campus Security Authority (CSA) <\/td>
Individuals at USC who, because of their function, have an obligation under the Clery Act to notify the Office of Clery Act Compliance of potential Clery Crimes that are reported to them, or potential Clery Crimes that they may personally witness. These individuals are designated as Campus Security Authorities based on their position or due to official job duties, ad hoc responsibilities, or volunteer engagements.\u202f The obligation to report potential Clery Act crimes observed by them, or reported to them by other individuals, is based on the report itself, without regard to whether the report has been investigated, substantiated, is plausible, or derives from a confidential source of information. CSAs typically fall under one of the following categories: 1. A member of a campus police\/security department. 2. Individuals with responsibility for campus security in some capacity (but who are not members of a campus police\/security department). 3. Other individuals or offices where a university policy directs students, staff, or faculty to report criminal offenses. 4. Officials with significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including but not limited to, student housing\/residential education, student discipline and campus judicial proceedings. <\/td><\/tr>
Clery Act Crimes (Clery Crimes) <\/td>
Crimes designated as reportable under the Clery Act include: criminal homicide (murder and negligent\/non-negligent manslaughter); sex offenses (rape, fondling, statutory rape, and incest); robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; motor vehicle theft; arson; hate crimes (criminal offenses that are motivated by specific types of bias); dating violence; domestic violence; stalking; hazing; and arrests or referrals for disciplinary action for any of the following: (a) liquor law violations, (b) drug law violations, and (c) carrying or possessing illegal weapons. <\/td><\/tr>
Property that is considered by the Clery Act to be (1) on campus, (2) public property within or immediately adjacent to campus, or (3) non-campus buildings or property that the institution owns or controls, is frequented by students, and is used in support of educational purposes; as well as any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization or other institution-associated entity that is officially recognized by the institution Non-campus buildings or property may also include certain University-sponsored overnight trips to locations frequently used by students, controlled by the University (e.g., a lease or rental agreement is in place), and used in support of educational purposes. <\/td><\/tr>
Emergency Notification <\/td>
A notification that is issued immediately upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on or near campus that poses an immediate threat to the health or safety of members of the campus community.
Emergency Notifications can be triggered by a broad range of threats, including but not limited to the following: \u2013 Active assailant\/armed intruder \u2013 Explosion \u2013 Bomb threat or suspected explosive device \u2013 Civil disturbance\/riot \u2013 Terrorist incident \u2013 Fire \u2013 Significant law enforcement activity \u2013 Hazardous materials spill \u2013 Gas leak \u2013 Earthquake \u2013 Approaching storm or other extreme weather conditions \u2013 Outbreak of serious contagious illness (e.g., coronavirus, meningitis, norovirus) <\/td><\/tr>
Emergency Notification System <\/td>
A mechanism established for the purpose of and dedicated to enabling USC officials to quickly contact or send messages to faculty, staff, and students in the event of an emergency.\u202f Examples include but are not limited to, fire alarms, sirens, alerts via email\/text message, local TV\/Radio, etc. <\/td><\/tr>
Timely Warning <\/td>
An alert that is issued to the campus community about a Clery Act Crime, occurring within a Clery Reportable Location, which represents a serious or continuing threat (e.g., a murder, sex offense or robbery). <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
5. Policy Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In accordance with the requirements of the Clery Act, the University shall: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f1.\u202fPublish an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASFSR)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By October 1st each year (or as otherwise required by the U.S. Department of Education), USC will publish an ASFSR documenting the prior three calendar years of Clery Act crime statistics, security policies and procedures, and information on the basic rights guaranteed to victims of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. All crime statistics must also be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s online portal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This report must be made available to all current faculty, staff, and students.\u202f In addition, prospective faculty, staff, and students must be notified of the ASFSR\u2019s existence and provided a copy upon request. Paper copies of the report will be available upon request from the USC Department of Public Safety (DPS). In addition, the Office of Admissions and Human Resources will publish a link to the ASFSR with a brief description on their respective web sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
USC will identify positions which meet the definition of a CSA on an ongoing basis and notify individuals in these roles of their obligations under the Clery Act to report any and all alleged Clery Crimes that they witness, or are reported to them, which may have occurred in a Clery Reportable Location.\u202f USC requires that all CSAs complete regular training on their responsibilities and reporting requirements under the Clery Act.\u202f USC will provide such training\u202fthrough the TrojanLearn learning management system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crime report statistics for incidents that occur in Clery Reportable Locations and are reported to Campus Security Authorities must be disclosed in a variety of formats, including the daily crime log, the ASFSR, and through the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s online portal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Clery Act Program Director is responsible for gathering crime report statistics from DPS; Office of Professionalism and Ethics (OPE); Office of Civil Rights Compliance (OCRC) (formerly the Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity and Title IX or EEO-TIX); Office of Community Expectations (OCE); Residential Education; Human Resources; Athletics; all Campus Security Authorities (CSAs); and from local, state, national and international law enforcement agencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disclosures of Clery Crimes occurring on Clery Geography made to a professional counselor or pastoral counselor in the context of a privileged (confidential) communication, are not subject to reporting requirements under this Policy. If information provided in confidential disclosures is believed to represent a serious or continuing threat to the safety of the campus community by the recipient of that confidential information, then that information may be shared with a CSA and, as a result of the CSA receiving the information, the information must be evaluated for Clery purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Clery Act requires reporting of crimes in the following categories: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hazing as defined by applicable law <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n
In addition, USC must gather statistics for the following categories of arrests or referrals for disciplinary action if an arrest was not made: \n
\n
Liquor Law Violations <\/li>\n\n\n\n
Drug Law Violations <\/li>\n\n\n\n
Carrying or Possessing Illegal Weapons <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n
USC must also report the following Hate Crimes by category of prejudice, including race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity and disability. Statistics are required for the offenses listed above in addition to the four additional categories listed below, if the crime committed is classified as a Hate Crime: \n
\n
Larceny\/Theft <\/li>\n\n\n\n
Simple Assault <\/li>\n\n\n\n
Intimidation <\/li>\n\n\n\n
Destruction\/Damage\/Vandalism of Property <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n
USC must also disclose if it has determined that any of the previously listed crimes are \u201cUnfounded.\u201d The Clery Act has specific guidelines for classifying a reported offense as \u201cUnfounded,\u201d which can only occur through the action of sworn law enforcement agencies. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
USC must provide timely warnings in response to reports about Clery Crimes, occurring within a Clery Reportable Location, which represent a serious or continuing threat to members of the campus community.\u202f This is determined on a case-by-case basis by one (or more) USC official(s) who has been pre-identified in USC\u2019s Policy and Procedures for Issuing a Timely Warning.\u202fA report does not need to include personally identifiable information in order to initiate the Timely Warning determination process.\u202fBecause the nature of criminal threats is often not limited to a single location, timely warnings must be issued in a manner likely to reach the entire campus community. Timely warnings will not include the name of the victim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u202fAs noted above, if information provided in confidential disclosures is believed to represent a serious or continuing threat to the safety of the campus community by the recipient of that confidential information, then that information may be shared with a CSA and, as a result of the CSA receiving the information, the information must be evaluated for Clery purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
USC is required to inform the campus community about a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of USC faculty, staff, employees, students, patients and visitors occurring on campus.\u202f Emergency events may be localized; therefore, notifications may be tailored exclusively to the segment of the campus community at risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
USC also must have emergency response and evacuation procedures in place specific to its on-campus facilities. A summary of these procedures must be disclosed in the ASFSR. Additionally, the emergency response procedures must be tested at least once, annually. [Refer to Policy and Procedures for Issuance of University Alerts.] <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exception: Emergencies where issuing a notification would compromise efforts to assist a victim, contain the emergency, respond to the emergency, or mitigate the emergency are not subject to the emergency notification requirement.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f \u202f\u202f\u202f6.<\/strong>\u202fRespond to Reports of Missing Residential Students<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
USC provides every student living in on-campus housing the opportunity and means to identify an individual to be contacted in an emergency, including whenever officials determine that a student is missing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n