"Following a seven-year investigation, the Department of Education has fined Yale $165,000 for failing to report four incidents of forcible sex offenses in 2001 and 2002, according to an April 19 letter to the Yale administration," reports Cynthia Hua for the Yale Daily News.
The Clery Act is not new and has been in force in the United States since 1990.
Failure to report campus crimes - and how a ruthless staff member takes advantage of that - was the topic of my first book, Alaska Gray, published in 1994. Jane McBride arrived in Sitka, expecting to begin working as finance director. But she arrives and the job vanishes. She stays and asks questions and that results in the murder of a student on campus - a young native artist.
Hiding or downgrading reports of criminal activity do not protect an institution. The criminal acts will continue unimpeded, whether it's in Alaska, Afghanistan, or institutions of higher education like Penn State and Yale University.
Transparency is essential. If institutions cannot endure transparency, they do not deserve to last.
