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"JIMMY" Medal!
CONNIE CLERY
Constance (Connie) Benjamin Clery (Barnard College class of 1953), along with her husband Howard K. Clery, Jr. (Dartmouth College class of 1953), changed the face of crime safety at colleges and universities across the United States after the 1986 brutal on-campus rape and murder of their only daughter Jeanne at Lehigh University by a fellow student whom she did not know.
The Clerys discovered a history of violent crime on the campus that students had not been warned about and a long record of problems with propped open doors of the type Jeanne's killer had used to gain access to her residence hall room. After the killer was convicted of murder, and a civil lawsuit against Lehigh was settled, the Clerys wanted to make sure that no other family had to endure the tragedy they had simply because they had been misled about the truth of campus crime.
Connie, along with her husband Howard, co-founded the non-profit advocacy organization Security On Campus, Inc. (SOC) in 1987. They secured passage of campus crime reporting legislation first in their home state of Pennsylvania, then in a dozen other states.
In 1990 their work brought them to the federal level with passage of the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act that is now known as the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act in memory of Jeanne. As of 2008 the Clerys’ leadership has led to the passage of a total of 28 state and 6 federal laws, including the Jeanne Clery Act, designed to improve campus safety. Connie was responsible for running SOC for its first 20 years and continues to serve as Chairman of the Board.
To this day SOC continues to be the leading force for improved crime victim assistance and security at campuses across the country. SOC continues to be actively involved in the legislative arena and working to ensure that the Jeanne Clery Act is fully implemented. SOC also offers nationally recognized educational programming to college-bound high school students on how to stay safe at college. SOC has also partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice and colleges across the country to offer a comprehensive Clery Act Training program to teach schools how to comply with the specifics of the law.
