Texas State University, under scrutiny from federal authorities, says it misreported campus crimes in recent years and is overhauling the way it tracks and records crime statistics for its locations in Round Rock and San Marcos.
At issue is Texas State’s compliance with the Clery Act, a federal statute that requires universities to report campus crime data and promptly warn students about ongoing or serious safety threats. Schools that don’t adhere to the rules can face significant financial penalties.
The U.S. Department of Education has been working with the university’s police department to ensure it submits accurate information in an annual campus security report due next month, and Texas State officers have spent weeks combing through crime records from the past three years. School officials say the correct crime figures will be in the October report, and they expect some numbers to differ from those published before.