Isabella Chirkis ’27
Editor-in-Chief
On Oct. 1, Trinity College released its annual Clery Report to the public. The Clery Act is a mandatory public document that all colleges and universities have to disclose to the public. This is a requirement for any college or university that receives federal funding for financial aid, being required to log crime statistics daily as well as actively alert the campus community if there is an ongoing issue. The Clery Report can be found digitally on Campus Safety’s website, but there are hard copies in the Campus Safety building, as it is important to have on hand when students and families visit the College.
Although the Clery Report is published every year, it contains 3 years worth of data and contains crime statistics directly on or around Trinity College’s campus as well as campus safety policies and procedures. The statistics are calculated based on where Trinity is situated within Clery geography, which includes on campus buildings as well as public sidewalks, streets, parks, buildings rented by Trinity and parks. Some categories of the Act include major offences like robbery, hate crimes, domestic violence, hazing and arrests for drugs or alcohol.
In an interview with the Tripod, John Tollis, Director of Campus Safety, said “we keep a running public list of crimes reported to campus safety that people can look at on campus safety at any time.” These logs represent daily crime statistics on and surrounding Trinity’s campus. Tollis emphasized the importance of reviewing this report, as it is a helpful family decision as to where parents might want to send their child to college. It is also a valuable resource to know the procedures that Campus Safety makes during an emergency.
When reviewing this year’s Clery report, Tollis commented “It shows the institution is making the right steps.” Although there is a slight uptick on Title IX reports at Trinity, Lauren Diana, Trinity’s Title IX coordinator, emphasized: “there is more trust, more building in that area where you can trust a face and a person and tell them your story and what you went through.” With higher levels of reported incidents, Laura Lockwood, the Director of Women and Gender Resource Action Center (WGRAC) and coordinator for the Green Dot, commented that this means that more people are comfortable coming forward.
The report also mentions the Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey, which is a state mandated survey biannually that is anonymously sent out to students at Trinity. The results are analyzed by Grand River Solutions, a third party, and show Trinity points of improvement as well as recommendations for ways sexual misconduct can be handled. Diana commented on the feedback and told the Tripod: “We can align them to see what the community needs to provide them and fill those gaps.”
Green Dot training has been implemented for athletes across campus, as Diana believes “the more that we are face to face talking to students about these issues, the more we are out there talking to students and raising awareness.”
