The Clery Act 2024- 2025 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report was released in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 30 by the university. 

The report is put together by the Rowan Police Department and published by the university at the beginning of every academic year, with all of the crime statistics contained being reported back to the Department of Education and made available to students and the public on the Rowan Police Department’s website page specifically dedicated to the annual report. 

All of this is done so that the university stays compliant with The Clery Act, which requires colleges nationwide to inform students of crimes occurring on campus.

The Clery Center’s website states, “The Clery Act requires colleges and universities to report campus crime data, support victims of violence, and publicly outline the policies and procedures they have put into place to improve campus safety.” 

Rowan’s report is broken down into eight separate charts located toward the end of the report. 

This includes the Glassboro Main Campus, West Campus and the South Jersey Technology Park, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, the Camden Academic Building, Rowan-Virtua Schools of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford and Sewell, as well as including data around Rowan’s presence at Rowan College of Burlington County and Rowan College of South Jersey in Gloucester County. 

Each of the various Rowan-affiliated campuses across South Jersey has its own chart for the crime and fire statistics reported at their locations. 

Some areas that are technically not “on campus” but are close in proximity to residence halls and class buildings are also included within the territory the report covers. The data tables compare statistics from 2021, 2022, and 2023. 

At Rowan College of Burlington County, Rowan College of South Jersey’s Gloucester campus, Rowan-Virtua SOM in Sewell, and the Camden Academic Building, Rowan saw no reported crimes of any kind within any of the years on record in the report. 

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University saw one incidence of aggravated assault and two occurrences of domestic violence on the public property surrounding the campus. This is up from last year, where there were no such instances of crime, though the past two years have not seen any crime on the campus property itself, and only one on-campus crime, a reported stalking, in 2021. 

Stratford’s Rowan-Virtua SOM campus saw cases of reported stalking rise from one case reported in 2022 to two cases in 2023, and one case of fondling compared with zero cases on campus in 2021 and 2022. The campus also saw one 2023 drug arrest on campus, compared to two drug arrests on public property the year before. 

West Campus’s number of drug arrests dropped from eight on public property in 2022 to just three such arrests last year, with no other crimes reported on or near the campus. 

Rowan’s Glassboro main campus, as the most populous of all campuses, saw the most reported crime.

No cases of murder, negligent manslaughter, or non-negligent manslaughter were reported on or near campus in any of the three years. 

2023 saw a decline in the number of reported rapes, with on-campus rapes down to nine reported cases compared with 2022’s 18. All nine cases occurred in on-campus housing. Reported on-campus fondlings also declined, down from nine in 2022 to three last year. Two of the cases occurred in on-campus housing, and the other happened on public property. No cases of incest or statutory rape were reported in any of the three years.

The number of domestic violence cases also dropped from 64 reports in 2022 to 47 in 2023. Stalking also dropped from 60 reported cases to 27 in 2023, 17 of those being within campus housing. Reported numbers of dating violence stayed at zero, the same as the previous two years. 

Cases of arson rose from one in 2022 to three last year, all three instances of the crime happening in on-campus housing. 

Aggravated assault dropped slightly from five to six cases, with two instances in on-campus housing and the rest happening on campus public property. 

The number of robberies stayed the same from 2022 to 2023, with one reported case on non-campus property. Reported burglaries dropped from 18 cases to two, both happening in on-campus housing. Vehicle thefts stayed at three cases. 

Liquor law arrests stayed at four cases between both 2022 and 2023, though drug arrests dropped from eight to four.  

Liquor referrals, already down from 40 referrals in 2021 to 12 in 2022, fell further to seven cases last year. 

Drug referrals remained at zero from 2022 to 2023, down from 21 referrals in 2021, due to changes in how the laws were enforced and defined between years. 

No hate crimes were reported on any of the campuses in any of the three recorded years. 

The last pages of the report delve into fire safety policies and data about fires from the last three years. 

There were a total of seven fires across residential facilities on campus in 2023. Three of these fires were incidents of arson in Willow Hall, with individuals intentionally lighting paper towels or the paper towel holder in a bathroom on fire. 

The other four fires were unintentional, with accidental electrical fires starting at 223 W High St, Rowan Blvd. 5000, and in the Holly Pointe Commons. The seventh fire was unintentionally started when smoking materials were left in a trash can at Rowan Blvd. 4000. 

The final page of the report contains information on the state of fire safety systems within residence halls for 2024. According to the report, every residence hall is equipped with monitored fire alarms, full sprinkler systems, and fire extinguishers and all buildings have evacuation plans posted, with fire safety training and evacuation drills also being conducted.

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