Criminal trespass at a dormitory. Unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon near the management school. A string of arsons — one at the physics and astronomy building.
All of these crimes, which occurred over the past month at the University of New Mexico alongside 114 others, would likely not have been made public without the school’s daily crime log.
The log — required by law for all colleges across the U.S. that receive federal student aid money — reports the location, date and time of the crimes schools don’t deem serious enough for an emergency alert. They offer more detail than universities’ annual campus crime reports, which contain only the number of times certain crimes have occurred in the previous year.
But access to the data on incidents reported on or near New Mexico campuses varies widely.
Nathan Burton/The New Mexican
The University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and Western New Mexico University go above and beyond — publishing crime logs online, a practice that isn’t explicitly required under the 1990 Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act.
Some New Mexico institutions, however, failed to provide copies of their campus crime logs upon request, and staff at New Mexico Highlands University told The New Mexican to file a formal public records request for the information, which the Clery Act doesn’t require.
The Clery Act, enacted in response to the 1986 rape and murder of 19-year-old Jeanne Clery in her dorm room at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., also requires higher education institutions that receive federal funding to send emergency notifications for certain on-campus crimes and to compile and publish annual reports outlining yearly data on federally defined “Clery crimes” — murder, arson and rape, for example.
But the daily crime log provides an ongoing picture of what is happening on campus, said Adrienne Helms, UNM’s Clery Act coordinator. It must feature every crime reported to campus police or security personnel, catching some types, like DUIs, that aren’t included in the annual reports.
“It provides people a picture of what it’s like outside of Clery crimes,” Helms said. “So, it’s really useful in that sense, in terms of risk.”
UNM — New Mexico’s flagship university — revamped its log in 2023 after campus news organization The Daily Lobo reported on several data-keeping deficiencies, including missing incident locations and times.
Under the Clery Act, a university’s daily crime log generally must include the nature, date, time and location of each incident and the disposition of each complaint — whether a case is active or closed, for example. Institutions must post an incident on the log within two business days of the date it was reported, unless the disclosure of the crime is prohibited by law or would jeopardize victim confidentiality.
Differences in availability
Neither Eastern New Mexico University nor the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology nor Northern New Mexico College supplied their daily crime logs the same day The New Mexican requested copies of them for the most recent 60-day period.
“An institution is required to make the crime log for the most recent 60-day period open to public inspection during normal business hours,” Laura Egan, deputy executive director of the nonprofit Clery Center, wrote in an email to The New Mexican. “This generally means that the information should be available at the time it is requested if the institution is open for business.”
Institutions can only take longer — up to two business days — if someone requests a portion of the log that is more than 60 days old but less than seven years old, which is the period for which a school must retain its daily crime log.
Staff at New Mexico Highlands University, which has faced recent scrutiny for a string of administrative issues and lawsuits, told The New Mexican to file a public records request for the Las Vegas, N.M., school’s log for the most recent 60-day period. That request, submitted July 28, was fulfilled Aug. 4.
NMHU saw 25 crimes in 2024, according to its most recent annual security report.
The Clery Act does not require a person submit a public records request to access a school’s daily crime log, Egan wrote in an email.
“Because the law specifically requires the log to be open for public inspection, institutions should have a process for providing access consistent with those requirements,” Egan wrote.
Photos by Nathan Burton/The New Mexican
The Clery Center, which provides programs and resources to help schools comply with the federal act, knows institutions often find the daily crime log challenging “because it requires ongoing, real-time compliance,” she wrote.
“Maintaining a log that is complete, accurate, and updated within the required timeframes requires coordination among campus departments and a clear understanding of the Clery Act,” Egan wrote.
The center regularly receives questions about determining the appropriate crime classification and understanding when information about a crime can be temporarily withheld — such as when a victim’s safety or ongoing investigation is at stake. The center also sees inquiries and confusion about what information needs and does not need to be included in the log.
“The daily crime log should include any/all crimes reported to a campus security authority that occur within the campus’ Clery Act geography inclusive of its patrol jurisdiction,” Egan wrote. “Therefore, instances like medical transports or car support (jumping someone’s battery) should not be included.”
Results around the state
New Mexico Highlands University’s log for June and July featured two offenses labeled only as “medical.”
Western New Mexico University in Silver City publishes its daily crime log on its website — but the log did not feature a “location” column until The New Mexican asked why there wasn’t one. It still did not list the time at which any crimes occurred as of Thursday.
WNMU saw five crimes in 2024 — the fewest among its counterparts — according to its most recent annual security report.
WNMU campus security specialist Barbara Perez initially told The New Mexican the locations and times were not included in the log because they were only available in the university’s police blotter. That document, she said, could be accessed through a public records request.
Many of the crimes listed in WNMU’s daily crime log do not appear to be crimes under the Clery Act. There were many entries labeled “Unlock-Lock Building” in July.
The university’s most recent annual security report states the WNMU Police Department “posts specific incidents in the Daily Crime Log within five business days after receiving a report of an incident” — three days beyond what the Clery Act instructs.
Portales’ Eastern New Mexico University, where there were 29 crimes in 2024, emailed a copy of its crime log for the most recent 90-day period to The New Mexican one day after reporters requested it.
After The New Mexican requested the New Mexico Tech’s log, controller for business operations Melissa Tull said it would take a while to access due to changes in staffing. She initially provided a copy of the March daily crime log, which someone else had previously requested; the log featured everything but the disposition of the crimes.
Tull then provided an up-to-date crime log Aug. 5. The “disposition” category still remained blank.
The Socorro university saw 10 crimes in 2024.
Northern New Mexico College in Española — where there were 14 crimes in 2024 — provided a copy of its daily crime log, composed of full police reports, the business day after The New Mexican asked for it.
UNM’s daily crime log, Helms said, is unique because it is automatically updated within five hours of a crime being added to the records management system. It also allows website visitors to export the data as a spreadsheet.
The Albuquerque university regularly has the highest crime rate among higher educational institutions in the state. Its most recent annual security report listed 453 crimes in 2024.
The NMSU Police Department uploads its daily crime log as a OneDrive file that can be accessed through a link on the police website. The log includes the name of the officer taking the report — as does NMHU’s — an addition that isn’t required by the Clery Act.
NMSU saw 175 crimes in 2024.
The cost of violations
Violations of the Clery Act can result in hefty fines from the U.S. Department of Education.
Liberty University, a Christian school in Virginia, was hit in 2024 with the largest penalty on record — a whopping $14 million — for its failure to comply with the law. The Education Department found that between 2016 and 2023, the university demonstrated “serious, persistent, and systemic violations” by discouraging students from reporting crimes, inadequately responding to instances of sexual violence, failing to tell the campus about criminal activities or dangerous situations — and failing to maintain an accurate or complete list of crimes, NPR reported at the time.
A single violation can cost a university up to $71,545 this year. The fine is adjusted annually for inflation.
The Education Department launched an investigation into Brown University for potential violations of the Clery Act in December, shortly after a shooting on the Rhode Island campus left two students dead and nine wounded, CNN reported.
“Students deserve to feel safe at school, and every university across this nation must protect their students and be equipped with adequate resources to aid law enforcement,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement at the time.
It is unclear whether efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantle the Education Department have impacted Clery Act oversight.
“It is crucial to recognize that colleges and universities currently benefit from the Department of Education’s expertise in Clery Act enforcement,” the Clery Center wrote in a news release after Trump signed an executive order aimed at eliminating the department last year. ” … If Clery Act oversight were shifted to an agency with no experience or knowledge of the Clery Act, it would have direct consequences for both institutions and the faculty, staff, and students the Clery Act protects.”
The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Lily Alexander is a state accountability reporter for The New Mexican, focusing on equity and transparency. Her position is part of the New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund, and her stories are available to all readers without a paywall.
