Texas Wesleyan University has failed to update its Clery Act reports on the university’s website for the past two years. 

The Clery Act is a federal law that mandates all universities to collect, classify and count all crime reports and statistics. Its primary purpose is consumer protection, ensuring that students, prospective students, parents and employees have access to essential information about crimes and security procedures on campus. Nora Galvan, a first-year resident student at Texas Wesleyan, said she was concerned about the absence of recent reports on the website.  

 “Knowing that the university takes our safety seriously is essential for our peace of mind, my parents send both my sister and I here and I know they did their research,” Galvan said. 

Robert Graves, an instructor of English Composition at Texas Wesleyan and a relatively new addition to the faculty said he was not aware of the Clery Act’s requirements before joining the university. However, even if he had been aware, this knowledge would not have influenced his decision to work at Texas Wesleyan. 

 “I wasn’t aware of the requirements of the Clery Act. It wouldn’t have changed anything for me wanting to be here. I don’t think that this campus is unsafe,” Graves said. 

Graves said the university has ongoing efforts to maintain campus safety. He said safety concerns are not unique to Texas Wesleyan but are common to many institutions of higher education. He highlighted that awareness is a crucial tool in preventing individuals from becoming victims. 

“Providing timely and accurate information is essential to ensure that the campus community remains informed about safety-related matters,” Graves said. 

However, he said the key to improvement lies in making sure that all members of the campus community know where to access this information.  

“While not every incident needs to be publicly advertised, clear guidelines for accessing comprehensive crime data should be readily available to all,” Graves said. 

 Oshiona Hart, a commuter student, echoed Galvan’s concerns and stressed the need for transparency.  

“As students, we trust the university to provide us with a safe environment,” she said. “Having access to accurate incident information helps us make informed decisions about our safety.” 

Hart said the university already sends out timely notifications when a crime occurs on campus. 

“I get a text message and an e-mail notifying me about incidents that happen and I sometimes I’ll get a lot of those on the weekends,” she said. “I think that that’s a really good thing. That they let people know in real time what’s happening, but sometimes I wished that those reports would have more details.” 

For more information on the Clery Act reports, students can contact security at [email protected] or call 817-531-4290. Older Clery Act Reports can be found on Texas Wesleyan’s Clery Act Reports Page.