Public more informed on campus crime

By Rick Alonzo, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, December 3, 1998

President Bill Clinton's October signing of the Higher Education Act of 1998 helps journalists gain access to more of the information necessary to keep the public informed of crime on college campuses, a student-press rights spokesman said.

Though the law has many facets, many of which deal with the increased funding of scholarships and financial aid, the new law, effective immediately, includes key provisions for journalists - and, ultimately, the public's right to know.

"The Higher Education Act will no longer allow schools to claim that they are prohibited by federal law not to release [crime] records," said Mark Goodman, executive director for the Student Press Law Center, an organization that counsels journalists concerned with legal issues on college campuses.

But Goodman cautioned the legislation is just that, words on paper. The Act's impact, significant or not, will be felt in the coming months.

"It all depends on how well the law is enforced and how the school's comply with it," he said. "The fact that Congress passed this law doesn't mean schools will try hard to comply."

Goodman said there are two key factors that will give this law emphasis. First, students, journalists, victims of crime and their families must speak out against campus police agencies that do not comply. Also, the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., is an essential player.

"They'll ultimately be the one's responsible to make sure schools comply with the new legislation," Goodman said.

University Police Chief Jack Pearson said he is working toward fulfilling the requirements mandated by the Act. The University Police log needs to be adjusted to reflect the statistics. For example, colleges can inform parents that their son or daughter has committed drug or alcohol disciplinary violations, provided the student is under 21.

He said the Act requires crime statistics for Cal State Long Beach's bordering streets - Seventh Street, Bellflower Boulevard, Atherton Street and Palo Verde Avenue -

to be tabulated and listed along with the surface streets within the campus.

That information, he said, must be culled from the Long Beach Police Department's computer system. The computer software must be adjusted to reflect those statistics and Pearson said it's a time-consuming process.

"We're expanding the crime listings and that's no problem because we keep those statistics anyway so it's just a matter of expanding the log," Pearson said. "The one big hang-up is the perimeter streets and how we get that information from the city of Long Beach."

Pearson said the Act puts pressure on the universities to conform but does not specifically ask their cities' police departments to help.

"All campuses are at the whim of their local jurisdiction [police department]," Pearson said. "I'm not sure Congress put that much thought into what they're asking us to do. Sometimes it just becomes a little cumbersome."