Dear Rice Faculty and Staff,
Please review this memorandum carefully as we have new standards for reporting crimes occurring during Rice-sponsored student trips. This communication is intended for faculty or staff who are administratively responsible for a domestic or international student trip in the calendar year 2022. If you were not involved in this way with a student trip, you do not need to read the remainder of this email.
RUPD would like your help in complying with Rice's annual crime reporting requirements mandated by the Clery Act. The Act requires Rice to report yearly on crimes occurring on campus property and also certain non-campus properties related to Rice educational programs. The Clery Act requires Rice to report crimes that occur during some Rice-sponsored student trips (whether domestic or international trips). If you were administratively responsible for a domestic or international student trip in 2022, please help us identify any trips that might require further data gathering by RUPD. Once you identify a trip that requires reporting, RUPD will then collect relevant crime statistics from local law enforcement agencies and add these to Rice's annual security report.
Please click on the link below by Friday, June 30, 2023, and answer the questions at the end of this message to identify any student trips meeting the following criteria:
- Rice-sponsored overnight trips to a location owned or controlled by Rice (even if under a written agreement to rent or lease rooms or facilities, such as a hotel);
- Where Rice owned or controlled the property for at least 30 days (consecutive or non-consecutive) during the calendar year; and
- Where at least 15 students used the property for each of those 30 days.
As a result of changes in guidance from the Department of Education, these criteria for reporting overnight trips are different than what we’ve used in previous years. If you have any questions about the new criteria, please contact Colleen Mosley-Hunt (cmosleyhunt@rice.edu).
We only need you to provide some basic information. RUPD will take it from there to request necessary crime statistics from local law enforcement agencies in the jurisdiction where the trip occurred.
Not all student trips need to be reported to RUPD. You need not report a trip in which there is no written or electronic agreement to use space (like a hotel rental agreement) or a trip that is arranged by a third party (such as a provider of study abroad programs). You also do not have to report trips in which students book their own hotel rooms or make their own travel arrangements. If you are unsure if your trip should be reported, email clery@rice.edu with available information and your question, and we will contact you to discuss.
To aid in future Clery Act reporting, we also ask that you keep a list each year of any Rice-sponsored or organized student trips, along with dates, locations, and hotels (and room numbers, if possible). This will simplify reporting in future years.
Thank you and please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Clemente Rodriguez
Chief, Rice University Police Department
P.S. To inform us of a trip, click the following link: https://riceuniversity.na1.documents.adobe.com/public/esignWidget?wid=CBFCIBAA3AAABLblqZhBPNulIHtTkTYHgYdPUMwlUV0G9CpKqmEFvbXcS64fQ-niaPQ7DaO99E0lWReP_vjQ*
where you will be able to provide:
- Your name
- Department
- Confirm that the event occurred at a Rice-owned or controlled property for at least 30 days (consecutive or non-consecutive) where at least 15 students used the property for each of the 30 days
- Your phone extension
- Name of trip and location
- Trip dates
- Hotel or other overnight accommodations used (include room numbers if available)
- Hotel address
- Hotel telephone number
- Did any crimes occur in Rice rooms/facilities or in common areas during the trip?
- Please include only one trip per form submission