UIS relies on Clery Liasons to help meet the critical requirements of the federal Clery Act.

The Clery Center - CSA Training Video

What is the difference between a Clery liaison and a Campus Security Authority? 

A Clery liaison is an individual assigned by the UIS Clery Compliance Coordinator to report required information for their units and assist the university with compliance. A CSA is a person who is required by federal law to report certain crimes to UIS Police.

As a Clery Liaison for your unit or department, you have three primary responsibilities: 

Identifying and reporting CSAs

Clery Liaisons must report CSA names to the Clery Compliance Coordinator, via this webform, any time there is a change in who holds a CSA position in their area. Visit the CSA webpage for a list of what positions are and are not considered CSAs or email clery@uis.edu if you have questions.

Once you submit someone’s name as a CSA, the Compliance Coordinator will notify them of their status and responsibilities via email. This email will include a link to required training, which should be completed within two weeks of receiving the email. The online training takes approximately 30-35 minutes to complete. Reminders will be sent to the CSA until training is complete. After two reminders have been sent, you as the Clery Liaison will be notified in order to help that CSA complete the training. 

Reporting university-sponsored travel for students 

What needs to be registered as an off-campus trip?

If the university/department makes the arrangements and has the agreement with the lodging location, the trip is considered school-sponsored.

Overnight, school-sponsored trips:  If the university/department or registered student organization sponsors student(s) on an overnight trip, for example to see a play in Chicago, and the university / department or registered student organization rents hotel rooms, regardless of who pays for the stay, the trip would be reportable.

Short-stay "away" trips:  If the university/department or registered student organization sponsors short-stay "away" trips overnight for its students, all locations used during the trip, controlled by the institution during the trip, and used to support educational purposes should be registered.  An example is a two-week legal studies trip to Washington, D.C. Any classroom or housing space specified in the agreement between the institution and the third-party providing space is reportable.

Third-party contractor:  If the university/department has entered into a written agreement with a third-party contractor to arrange housing and/or classroom space for a school-sponsored trip or study program (either domestic or foreign), it is assumed that the contractor is acting on behalf of the school as the school's agent, putting the institution in control of this space.

Study abroad programs:  If a department sends students to study abroad at locations of facilities that the university/department/third-party contractor rents or leases for students in a hotel or student housing facility, the university is in control of that space for the time period covered by the agreement.

What does not need to be registered as an off-campus trip?

If students make the arrangements and choose the hotel, it is NOT a school-sponsored trip.

No agreement: If the university/department (or contracted third-party) does NOT have an agreement for the space used, the university department does not control the space and is not required to count it. For example, there are some situations, such as sports tournaments, for which the host institution makes all of the housing arrangements for the visiting students. In these situations, the visiting institutions do not have a written agreement for the use of the space and are not required to report for the housing in which their students are located.

Field trips with no overnight stay:  You are NOT required to register non-overnight field trips to locations the university/department does not own or control.

Host family situations: These situations do not normally qualify as reportable locations unless a written agreement with the host family gives the university/department significant control over space in the family home. Clery liaisons should report any university-sponsored travel using this overnight student travel form prior to the travel taking place.

Common questions about reporting overnight travel:

Q: What if the student is paying for the travel and just getting reimbursed by the department? 

A: The question of who makes the arrangements weighs more heavily in this decision. If the student chooses their own hotel and makes the arrangements themselves, then this travel would not be reportable. If the unit (UIS) makes the arrangements and has a contract, written agreement or reservation with the lodging, then this travel would be reportable. For example, when a unit uses its T-card to arrange a hotel for a grad student, this is a reportable location. 

The reportability in this instance isn’t impacted by the knowledge that university funds eventually funded the travel.  The student coordinated the travel arrangements, which makes the travel not reportable. Reimbursements made after-the-fact, when the student makes the travel arrangements, are not reportable.

Q: What does UIS Police do with this information? 

A: UIS is required to send the law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction in areas where students are traveling/have traveled a letter requesting Clery-reportable crime statistics for the time period that our students were there, and then include these stats in our annual disclosure.

Reporting non-campus property  

Non-campus Property is defined as, “any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution; or any building or property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the institution’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students, and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the institution.” 

Clery liaisons should report any new non-campus property owned or controlled by their unit using this property registration form. You do not need to report property used through the Real Estate or Contracts Office. UIS Police work with Facilities and Services, the Real Estate Office, Certified Housing, and Contracts Office to gather information on university owned and controlled properties on an annual basis. If you already have a lease or agreement in place, this location will be captured by the above entities. 

If the university sends students to study abroad at an institution we do NOT own or control, we do not have to disclose statistics for crimes that occur in those facilities. If the university RENTS or LEASES space for our students at these institutions, these facilities must be reported. 

This form is used for a semester or year long program where we control property. Anything shorter would be considered “travel.” 

If the University has a contract with a third-party vendor acting on behalf of the University to arrange housing, these locations specific to our students must be reported.  Typically, host family housing is NOT included unless there is a written agreement giving the University significant control over a specified area of the home.

Questions? 

Contact the Clery Compliance Coordinator at any time by emailing clery@uis.edu or by calling the UIS Police Department non-emergency line at 217-206-6690.