We recently partnered with the Clery Center to present "Beyond the Basics: Reading the Regs Part I," a webinar where we:
Key takeaways from the presentation are highlighted in the following blog.
The Higher Education Act was written in 1965 to expand the federal government's role in higher education policy. The original law was composed of eight major sections, referred to as "Titles," and it was intended to be reauthorized every four to six years. The tenth reauthorization of the law was scheduled for 2013 and is now eight years overdue.
Authorization/reauthorization and appropriation are the two steps necessary for any government program to be funded and running. A program that is funded by discretionary spending (as opposed to a budget overhaul) may continue to operate if funds are appropriated, even if the authorization has expired. This is where we are currently with the Higher Education Act.
One of the eight original Titles of the Higher Education Act is Title IV. It is the largest section and governs all federal financial assistance. Institutions that receive Title IV funding must comply with the Clery Act. In fact, the Clery Act is embedded within Title IV.
The Clery Act has been amended several times since its inception in 1990, and one of those amendments came in the form of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. It was developed in response to the tragic mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, which resulted in the requirement for emergency notifications.
A statute is a written law passed by a legislative body, while regulations are official rules made by an agency responsible for enforcing a law and guidance is non-binding advice given by an agency to the public regarding how best to comply with a law.
The Clery Act is a federal statute with regulations in the United States Code of Federal Regulations. Practitioners implementing Clery Act obligations can find clarity regarding requirements under the applicable statutory or regulatory provisions in the current guidance, known as the Clery Act Appendix for the Federal Student Aid Handbook (formerly known as the Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting).
A finding of being out of compliance with the Clery Act must be grounded in statute or regulations. You will not be found out of compliance for a recommendation that is only found in the handbook. Best practice is to rely on the regulations, after the statute and before guidance.
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