In late December last year, the PBA filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education, alleging that the University at Albany has violated the Clery Act by failing to issue timely alerts in serious criminal incidents.
In late December last year, the PBA filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education, alleging that the University at Albany has violated the Clery Act by failing to issue timely alerts in serious criminal incidents.
In late December last year, the PBA filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education, alleging that the University at Albany has violated the Clery Act by failing to issue timely alerts in serious criminal incidents.
UNIVERSITY POLICE | ENCON POLICE ifr York PARK POLICE | FOREST RANGERS
State
December 29, 2017
CERTIFIED MAIL
9407110898765003260404
EMAIL CleryComplaints@ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division
830 First StNE
Washington DC 20202
Dear Clery Act Compliance Division Representative:
1 am writing to alert you to what I believe are the negligent actions and violations of the The
Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("Clery
Act”), 20 US. Code § 1092 (£)3), by the State University of New York College at Albany
(“SUNY Albany”) over the past two years. SUNY Albany is an “eligible institution” as defined
in the Clery act. Please consider this letter the filing of an official complaint and allegations of
several violations of the timely reporting requirements of the Clery Act based on of a number of
incidents, described below, throughout 2016 and 2017. All of these crimes occurred on the
SUNY Albany campus and in each case either no Clery notifications were issued or the notices
were issued but were untimely.
Herein are separate allegations of Clery Act violations, but I am also charging that the totality of
these violations indicates a systematic effort on the part of SUNY Albany campus officials to
violate the Clery Act by regularly failing to release timely information ~ or in some cases any
information whatsoever — about crimes occurring on campus that should be considered a threat to
students and employees of the University.
The occurrences of crimes in which no notifications or untimely notifications were made are as
follows:
1
On October 21, 2016 at about 1:40 p.m,, the University at Albany received an anonymous
report that a female student was approached by two unknown males in the area between
the Humanities Building and the Dutch Quad parking lot. One of the males touched an
intimate part of the victim’s body without her consent and the complainant further
reported that, after clearly telling the men to stop, one of the men attempted to touch her
fora second time. Finally, the reporting individual indicated that the incident was
interrupted by a nearby bystander who intervened in a manner that cause the two reported
‘perpetrators to leave the area.
11 North Pearl Street — Suite 1200 — Albany, NY 12207
(P) 518.433.5472 — (F) 518.433.5473 — www.pbanys.orgDecember 29, 2017
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division
Page 2
This is considered the crime of “forcible touching” which is categorized as a sex crime”
in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of sex
offenses, an cligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus
community. Being that the suspects in this case were unknown and were not in custody,
their actions should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community,
however SUNY Albany did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 7:54
pm. approximately six hours later.
‘On October 23, 2016 at about 4:00 am., an unknown male entered the Stuyvesant Tower
residence of a female student without permission and engaged in sexual intercourse with
her, without her consent. The subject fled after the victim awoke and confronted him.
This is considered the crime of “rape” which is categorized as a “sex crime” in the New
‘York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of sex offenses, an
cligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that
the suspect in this case was unknown and was not in custody, this criminal action should
have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however the
University did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 12:05 p.n.,
approximately eight hours later. Upon this release, several members of the college
community came forward as witnesces to seeing this individual on campus which helped
10 identify him and led to his arrest.
On December 13, 2016 at approximately 2:00 a.m., a forcible touching incident occurred
‘on the #11 CDTA bus as it was moving from Western Avenue toward the Social Science
Joading dock on campus. During the incident a male sitting on the bus repeatedly
touched a woman on intimate parts of her body and then fled the scene.
This is considered the crime of “forcible touching” and is categorized as a “sex crime” in
the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of sex
offenses, an eligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus
community. Being that the suspect in this ease was unknown and was not in custody, his
behavior should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community,
however the University did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 9:40
p.m. on December 16, 2016 (more than three and ahalf days later) which included a
photograph of the unidentified suspect.
(On March 1, 2017 at approximately 9:20 a.m., an unknown male struck and took money
from a taxi driver parked on Collins Circle on campus.
This is considered a robbery in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act requires
that upon the reporting of a robbery, an eligible institution must make a timelyDecember 29, 2017
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division
Page3
notification to the campus community. Being that the suspect in this case was unknown
and was not in custody, his action should have been considered a continuing threat to the
‘campus community, however the University did not release a Clery notification on this
incident until 5:52 p.m., approximately eight hours later.
5. On March 2, 2017 at approximately 11:55 p.m., four males struck and robbed a student in
Tappan Hall on the State Quad. ‘The suspects entered Tappan Hall at about 11:54 p.m., as
the building had locked doors. However, the suspects who did not have authorization to
center, entered through a door as « building resident exited. Shortly after entering
unlawfully, the suspects assaulted a student, took his property, and then fled the Quad.
The student suffered minor injuries including bruising and a laceration, and was
transported to the hospital.
‘These crimes are considered burglary and robbery in the New York State Penal
Law. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of a burglary and/or a robbery an
cligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community. Being that
the suspects in this ease were unknown and were not in custody, their actions should have
been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however the University
did not release a Clery notification on this incident until 2:20 a.m. on March 3, 2017,
approximately two and a half hours later,
6. On March 10, 2017 at about 12:38 am, a delivery driver reported that he was delivering
food on campus when the individual who ordered did not have enough money to
pay. Upon walking away, the driver reported that the male waiting for the delivery began
punching him in the head and continued to do so as he lay on the ground. The driver
stated that the male then tried to take his phone from him before fleeing the scene. The
driver was then taken to the hospital due to his injuries.
This crime was en attempted robbery. The Clery Act requires that upon the reporting of a
robbery, an eligible institution must make a timely notification to the campus community.
Being that the suspect in this case was unknown and was not in custody, their actions
should have been considered a continuing threat to the campus community, however, no
Clery notification was ever issued on this incident and the suspect was not arrested until
twelve days later.
7. On October 16, 2017 at 9:58 a.m., a female student reported that she was sexually
assaulted by an unknown male on October 15, 2017 at approximately 3:00 a.m. while in
her dorm room on campus. The victim was unsure of the identity of the male and
members of the state university police then spent several hours reviewing camera footage
in an attempt to identify the suspect.December 29, 2017
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid — Clery Act Compliance Division,
Page 4
This crime is considered a “sex crime” in the New York State Penal Law. The Clery Act
requires that upon the reporting of sex offenses, an eligible institution must make a timely
notification to the campus community. Being that the suspect in this case was unknown
and was not in custody, their actions should have been considered a continuing threat to
the campus community, however, no Clery notification was ever issued on this incident
and an arrest was not made until several hours after the suspect was identified.
8. On October 16, 2017 at approximately 3:00 p.m, a female student reported that she met
with an unknown male in his vehicle on campus. During a conversation the male became
upset and started yelling at the female who then tried to leave the vehicle. When she did
so the male grabbed her and tried to pull her back into the vehicle. A struggle ensued for
approximately ten seconds until the female broke free and ran to her dorm. While the
incident was recorded on the university camera system a suspect was never identified for
the attempted Unlawful Imprisonment.
‘This incident should have been classified as dating violence, as defined by 20 U.S. Code
§ 1092 (O(1)\(F ii) yet no Clery notification was ever issued by the University.
9. On December 1, 2017 at approximately 2:30pm a student arranged for a drug transaction
with a non-student who came on to campus to purchase drugs. The two met outside the
dormitory hall and walked to the student’s room. At one point, the non-student grabbed
for the student’s wallet and ultimately a physical altercation occurred. The non-student at
one point lifted up his shirt and showed what appeared to be a firearm (later determined
to be a pellet gun) in an effort to get the victim to comply. Upon the attempted forcible
theft as well as display of this weapon, whether it was actually a firearm or not, this crime
became an attempted robbery. The non-student with the pellet gun was not immediately
identified and even though he was ultimately identified and arrested more than a week
later, no Clery notification was ever sent.
These are just a handful of incidents in which the University has failed to put out timely or any
safety warnings to the college community. The Clery Act requires schools to issue timely
‘warnings “if there is a current or ongoing threat to students or campus safety”. ‘These crimes
listed in this letter are clear incidents where the University has failed to issue timely warnings
‘upon current or ongoing threats to the campus community.
T believe these notifications were purposely not disseminated, or delayed until such a time as a
suspect was in custody, to keep the university’s desired image as a safe and a friendly place -
during times when it was anything but that.
Furthermore, | believe that the State University of New York at Albany has become a moreDecember 29, 2017
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid ~ Clery Act Compliance Division
Page 5
dangerous environment in recent years as evidenced by its 2016 Annual Security Report
for Clery (htp://police.albany.edw/ASR.pdf) which shows increases in major crimes:
Rape
2014 2015 2016
4 ea 27
Burglary
2014 2015 2016
5 9 21
Dating Violence
2014 2015 2016
16 7 46
The Clery Act was enacted to ensure safety for the campus community, but SUNY Albany’s
repeated and systematic violations of the Clery Act thwart that very purpose and, as tabulated
above, some categories of serious crime on the campus have experienced major increases.
Nota week goes by these days without hearing about terrible violent acts at educational
institutions and other locations, in which countless victims were killed and savagely wounded. I
will not stand by as SUNY Albany not only fails to act, but apparently, purposely avoids
reporting crimes occurring on campus.
Again, the Clery Act was enacted to keep colleges and universities safe, and the Department of
Fducation was assigned the responsibility to ensure institutions complied with this important and
crucial law. Iam entrusting that you will exercise due diligence and conduct a proper, timely
and thorough investigation of SUNY Albany and its apparent systematic efforts at failing to
make timely notifications.
I will reserve the right to send copies of this letter to different state and federal public officials.
‘Additionally, the Board of Directors of the PBA of NYS may direct me to release this leter to
the press. Thank you for your anticipated actions on this matter which affects thousands of
students, staff, and faculty at the University at Albany.
Sincerely,
SD es.
Daniel M. De Federicis
Executive Director and Counsel