NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale University has been fined $165,000 by the U.S. Department of Education for failing to report four on-campus sex crimes in 2001 and 2002.
The department informed Yale of the fine in an April letter, saying the omissions posed a threat to the Yale community.
“These failures endangered Yale’s students and employees who must be able to rely on the disclosures of campus crime statistics, policies and statements, and the accurate reporting of crime statistics to take precautions for their safety,” the letter states.
The school also was cited for failing to properly define its campus and failing to include required policy statements in its reports under the Clery Act, which requires schools to provide crime statistics.
The department fined Yale $27,500, the maximum allowed, for each of the four forcible sex offenses in 2001 and 2002; $27,500 for the failure to accurately detail its campus; and $27,500 for a failure to include seven required policy statements in its 2004 security report.
Yale is appealing the fine. The school acknowledged the violation in 2004 and says it has taken corrective action.
“The university is fully committed to maintaining a robust program of campus security policies and campus crime statistics reporting that contains all of the elements prescribed by the Clery Act,” the school said in a written statement. “However, the university believes that the department’s imposition of maximum fines is not warranted based on the particular situations that resulted in findings of violations and, as a result, does not meaningfully advance the goals of the Clery Act.”
