By Steve Yang and Eva Lilienfeld
yangstev17@grinnell.edu, lilienfe17@grinnell.edu
Updated on Thursday, Sept. 1
Andrea Conner, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, sent a Clery Timely Warning to the campus community at 2:50 p.m. this afternoon. A copy of the message has been posted below. The S&B has removed identifying details, including a name and photo, pending further investigation. Click here to read more about Clery Act compliance at Grinnell College.
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Campus community,
Per the Jeanne Clery Act, we write with a timely warning that Grinnell College has been alerted to a Clery-reportable crime that occurred off-campus. This incident led to the arrest of [REDACTED]. It was determined that this situation could present an ongoing threat to the safety of campus community and thus we have served [REDACTED] with a no-trespass order, which means he is no longer allowed on campus. If you see [REDACTED] on campus, please call Campus Safety at 641.269.4600.
The campus should be advised that there is not an active emergency; this message is being sent as a precaution.
[IMAGE REDACTED]
Department of Campus Safety
Student Affairs
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Due to laws concerning the release of information provided in the Clery Timely Warning, more information was unavailable about the incident that motivated the report upon its release. Conner added that the Clery warnings are meant to serve as an aid to preventing similar crimes and enabling community members to protect themselves.
“Everything I was allowed to say, I said in the alert,” Conner wrote in an email to the S&B. “The Clery Act requires us to alert the campus community to Clery-reportable crimes in a manner that is timely and will aid in the prevention of similar crimes. The intent of a timely warning is to enable people to protect themselves.”
Conner and Scott Kinnie, Interim Director of Campus Safety, ultimately make the decision to release timely Clery Act warnings on a case-by-case basis. Conner listed numerous factors that go into this decision, such as “the nature of the reported crime; the possibility of continuing danger to the campus community; and the status of any law enforcement investigations (which we cannot compromise),” she clarified in an email.
Conner added that additional resources about the Clery Act can be found here, through the Department of Education (https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/handbook.pdf starting page 111).
The S&B also reached out to the person identified in the report for clarification, but received no response.
Updated Thursday, Sept. 1 at 1:45 PM
