ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
Victims of campus crime gave emotional support Thursday to a bill that would require colleges to maintain a public police log, including the names of people charged.
Opponents said a new federal law would only increase paperwork and divert resources that could be used in more practical ways, such as hiring more campus police.
Christy Brzonkala told a House panel she was raped by two football players at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., and said a daily log would provide an important check on the truth of crime statistics reported by universities.
``On a single night, I was raped three times,'' she told the subcommittee on post-secondary education, training and life-long learning. Virginia Tech reported only two violent rapes for that year, she added.
Brzonkala said she was attacked in September 1994 by two football players enrolled at the school. The case was handled by the university's judicial system. After two hearings, one player was exonerated and the other was punished with one hour of counseling. The university later said it had convicted that player of using abusive language, not sexual assault.
Other witnesses agreed the measure would pressure colleges and universities to be honest with students about campus crime.
Connie Clery, whose daughter, Jeanne Ann Clery, was raped and strangled by a fellow student at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., urged the subcommittee to endorse what she called ``this vital and most necessary legislation.''
After the 1986 death of her daughter, Clery founded Security on Campus, an organization that has lobbied for more detailed and more frequent crime reporting by universities.
``It is the right of those students to have that information to protect themselves,'' she testified.
Now, colleges that accept federal funding are required only to compile statistics on certain serious crimes and provide them to students and staff. They must also publish an annual security report and post warnings about crimes that pose a continuing threat.
Carolyn Carlson, speaking on behalf of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Campus Courts Task Force, a coalition of organizations representing professional and student journalists and journalism educators, asked the subcommittee to amend the bill to require public access to information about how students accused of criminal behavior are disciplined by their schools.
The Task Force was started in 1993 to rally support for increased public access to crime information held in secret campus court systems. Carlson asked SPJ to take up the issue following her experience as a board member for The Red and Black, an independent newspaper for the University of Georgia.
The Red and Black won two Georgia Supreme Court rulings granting access to disciplinary proceedings involving hazing and arson.
``After that, I was determined to help students at other schools gain equal access,'' she said.
Witnesses opposing the measure said victims might be hurt by requiring campuses to have a daily log that includes the date, time and place of the crime.
``We would urge great caution,'' said Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity College in Washington, D.C. She said victims could be easily identified if precise locations were disclosed.
Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif, raised concerns over privacy.
``I know of instances of individuals who were arrested but never charged,'' he said. The log would not provide the full story of an incident, and minority men, in particular, could be judged unfairly, he said.
In addition to issues of privacy, McGuire said the federal law would burden universities with unnecessary administrative costs that they would rather spend on preventing crime and adding security staff.
``I don't believe that reporting has any deterrent on crime,'' she said.
Opponents also said a federal law would cause confusion with similar state laws.
Seven states - Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Oklahoma, California and West Virginia - have such laws.
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