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Clery Act Compliance Officer Added to University

Ashley Diel, Staff Reporter

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The University of Toledo has taken a step in continuing to help promote student safety on campus by hiring Meredith Blaine as the new Clery Act compliance officer.

The Clery Act is a law that was passed to alert perspective students, employees and the campus community about crimes which occur on campus and in the immediate vicinity. It also makes sure crimes are reported correctly to the proper authorities.

“The Clery Act requires we publish the annual security report,” Blaine said. “That document contains not only statistics, but information about how to stay safe, who to contact if you want to report a crime and a number of different topics.”

The Clery Act compliance officer position is new this year. Previously, the duties involved with it fell to the UTPD.

Jeff Newton, UTPD chief of police, said moving the Clery Act responsibilities from the UTPD to a new position will help the university comply with the act better.

“Clery compliance responsibilities do not just rest with the police department,” Newton said. “Clery responsibilities stretch across many areas of the university including student affairs, athletics, Residence Life, et cetera. [Having] Meredith serving as the Clery coordinator and working out of the Office of Audit and Compliance will be best positioned to coordinate with all areas having Clery responsibility.”

David Cutri, director of internal audit and chief compliance officer, said adding the position on campus was a way for the university to stress safety on campus.

“We came to the conclusion that we needed to make an additional investment in campus safety,” Cutri said. “We wanted to build an infrastructure so that when a crime or a harassment situation takes place on campus that we can establish the appropriate resolution.”

Blaine said she is also looking to expand on what the UTPD has already done in terms of training and educating the university community about Clery.

“We want to have more educational opportunities so that our campus security authorities will be able to understand their role a bit better and so we can make sure that we are doing everything we can to comply with the law,” Blaine said.

One way she plans on doing this is incorporating more face-to-face training.

“I really think that getting face-to-face time with people and making sure they understand what their responsibilities are and having an opportunity to ask questions and explaining what that role is to them is extremely beneficial and will make sure that people understand what those requirements under federal law are,” Blaine said.

Cutri said adding the position will also help the university to realign its strengths and make sure it is better able to meet the needs of students.

“We want to make sure that we are able to provide students with the educational opportunities that they pay for,” Cutri said. “We want to make sure that our operations are effective and efficient and that all applicable laws and regulations are complied with.”

Newton said bringing Blaine on board will be beneficial for the university by improving safety for those who attend.

“In her brief time at UT, she has already proven to be a tremendous asset,” Newton said. “I expect Meredith will further strengthen the most important area in university compliance, the safety of our campuses.”

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