This article contains discussions of sexual assault, stalking and relationship violence.
Monday, Aug. 31, the College of William and Mary’s Office of Public Safety issued a crime alert for a sexual assault that occurred on campus. This notification came three days after the Office of Public Safety issued a separate crime alert Friday, Aug. 28, which contained two notices of stalking.
“Consistent with the Clery Act, we have attached information about a reported sexual assault on campus,” the Aug. 31 email said.
Friday, Aug. 28, the Office of Public Safety also sent an email with the subject “Updates from the Division of Public Safety” which shared information on Timely Warnings.
“To enhance awareness across the community, we have added a Crime Alerts & Safety Advisories section to the website,” the email said. “This resource, along with periodic Timely Warning emails, will inform the campus community of reportable incidents and relevant crime trends that may enable the members of our Tribe to better protect themselves.”
Associate Vice President for Public Safety Cliff Everton ’96 said there were no external or situational factors that contributed to the College’s adoption of the updated crime notification system. He added that the change reflects a broader effort to communicate more openly with the campus community.
“The biggest thing that [William and Mary Police] Chief [Don] Butler and I have been talking about is how do we engage the community in a more transparent manner,” he said. “[We are also focused on] making sure we are communicating things that we think the community needs to know so they can keep themselves safe and secure on campus.”
According to Butler, the Clery Act requires that universities receiving federal financial aid issue Timely Warnings when certain crimes occur. This is required under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and includes annual security reports, crime logs, crime statistics and Timely Warnings.
In 1990, Connie and Howard Clery Jr. advocated for legislation in honor of their daughter, Jeanne Clery. At 19, Clery was raped and murdered in a residential hall at Lehigh University, where she was a student. In the aftermath, her parents argued that if the university had alerted the campus community of the 38 crimes that had occurred in the previous three years, Clery’s assault and murder could have been prevented.
This urgency for academic institutions to disclose acts of violence became the Clery Act.
Timely Warnings are separate from emergency notifications, or, in the case of the College, TribeAlerts.
“Timely Warnings are issued when a Clery crime is committed within our Clery geography, which is the university property, owned, leased or controlled by the university, and there is a serious or ongoing threat to the university,” Butler said.
The College clearly defines Clery geography as its five campuses, public property “adjacent to and accessible from Campus Property” and non-campus buildings owned or controlled by the College.
Everton said the College’s new approach to publishing crime alerts developed over the spring and summer through conversations among Public Safety, Student Affairs and the Office of Compliance and Equity.
“It was an ongoing evolution of what we’ve been working on,” he added.
Everton said the rollout of the College’s new crime notification system was accelerated after several reports of crime on campus, two being stalking. Public Safety received these reports around the time it planned to announce the change.
“We had a very intentional idea of this fall debuting this change well in advance of anything,” Everton said.
Butler said the timing of the alerts should not be interpreted as an increase in crime on campus.
“The truth of the matter is there’s been no spike in crimes, certainly no spike in violent crime at William and Mary, which we’re very proud to say that and happy to say,” Butler said.
The truth of the matter is there’s been no spike in crimes, certainly no spike in violent crime at William and Mary, which we’re very proud to say that and happy to say.
The 2025 Annual Campus Security and Fire Report states that there were nine reported campus incidents of stalking in 2024, 18 in 2023 and seven in 2022.
Butler said Public Safety and WMPD consider privacy when determining what information to include in an alert.
“[The crime alerts] have to be, in some cases, somewhat vague to protect the identity of both the victim or survivor and the respondent,” Butler said. “So we do take that into account.”
Butler said his team takes additional steps to protect survivors of stalking before sending an alert.
“We also try to let, in a stalking case, the victim know that we’re going to be doing this and check if they have any concerns,” Butler said. “We take a lot of time to go through the message before we send it and make sure that there’s not identifiable information in it.”
Butler said Public Safety can delay or decline to send a crime notification in certain circumstances.
“It’s nuanced, but it’s once we assess that we’re going to have to put something out or we feel like we should put something out for awareness or safety, we [talk to the survivor] before it goes out,” Butler said. “Even once already this semester, [we] delayed [sending out a notification] a little bit because someone was in class and we wanted to make sure they were aware and not caught off guard or retraumatized by seeing that information out there.”
Butler said survivors retain a role in the decision to send a crime alert to campus.
“The survivor always has a say,” Butler said. “And we’ll have that conversation when the time comes.”
For one student who filed a stalking report with WMPD, the Aug. 28 notification was unexpected. Their identity will be anonymous to protect their safety.
The student said they went to WMPD to file a report and were asked questions about whether the incident occurred on or off campus, online or in person. The student said they subsequently spoke with a WMPD officer, a supervisor and a detective who connected them with the Williamsburg Police Department and helped create a safety plan.
The student said they were not informed during the reporting process that their report could result in a campus-wide notification.
“That email came as an absolute surprise to me, and I had no idea that it was going to be sent out,” the student said.
They initially believed the email might have been sent only to them before realizing it had been distributed to the broader campus community.
“It felt like my situation, which I felt very private about, had been broadcasted to the campus and William and Mary’s student body,” the student said.
It felt like my situation, which I felt very private about, had been broadcasted to the campus and William and Mary’s student body.
They said they would’ve preferred to receive advance notice that a notification would be sent.
“I think that would have been a lot more helpful and led to a lot less drama and gossip,” they added.
The student said the possibility of a campus-wide notification could have affected their decision to report.
“If I knew, I probably would have been a little more worried or had made it very clear that I wanted it not to be broadcasted to the campus,” the student said. “Especially in my case with stalking.”
The student said the visibility of the notification was particularly concerning because of potential retaliation from their stalker.
“Part of me keeping it private would be me figuring it out so that I could keep myself protected from retaliation,” they said. “I know that the person who was stalking me knew exactly that it was me and knew exactly that at that moment I had reported them, and it actually led to some retaliation in that aspect.”
The student said the experience made them question whether the privacy they expected during the reporting process had been maintained.
“I felt that my privacy, which was explained to me multiple times about the policy of absolute privacy and confidentiality, was not kept,” the student said. “And that the idea of my safety, when it came to retaliation that they knew had happened before, wasn’t taken properly into consideration.”
Senior Director for Gender-Based Violence Resources and Advocacy Services Liz Cascone provided observations based on The Haven’s work supporting students affected by sexual violence and other forms of interpersonal harm. The Haven is the College’s confidential resource center for those impacted by gender-based violence.
“Students, faculty and staff benefit from having information that helps them make informed decisions and increases awareness of available resources and support,” Cascone wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “At the same time, it is important to recognize that public notifications about harmful incidents can have a significant emotional impact.”
Cascone said the notifications may affect students who have experienced similar forms of harm.
“Others may worry about whether an incident they report could result in broader campus communication, even when identifying information is not included,” she added.
Cascone emphasized the importance of understanding how the College’s communication practices affect students.
“As communication practices evolve, it will be important to continue listening to students and monitoring how those practices may influence comfort with reporting and help-seeking,” Cascone wrote. “Ensuring that students understand both how information is shared and what privacy protections are in place can help foster trust and encourage individuals to access the support they need.”
Student Assembly President Nico Giro-Martin ’27 and Vice President Sophie Kennedy ’27 said they have heard concerns from students about the increased visibility of crime alerts, particularly regarding sexual violence. They said they were not fully aware of these alerts going out ahead of their issuance.
“We’ve heard concerns from students because we are aware that having these alerts go out to the whole campus and community, everyone being able to see them can be alarming,” Kennedy said. “We really want to have a lot of people in Student Assembly continue to have conversations with Public Safety and make sure that it is very collaborative with students to make sure that student voices are heard.”
Giro-Martin said some students have also questioned whether the incidents described in the alerts are new.
“A lot of the conversations that I’ve been having with people are people that haven’t had to deal with these issues,” he added. “It’s kind of this world that is also opening up to them and that they weren’t really aware of.”
Kennedy said the transition to the new notification system was initially unclear to students and that the lack of context could contribute to alarm. She added that SA plans to continue working with Public Safety.
“We’re trying to make it very clear that we want students to be in the loop,” she said. “When there are these updates, there needs to be very clear communication about why there’s an update and how it is being updated.”
Iris White ’27 was one of many students who was confused seeing the alerts.
“I thought nothing like that had ever happened on our campus,” White said. “I didn’t understand if it was a one-off incident or if this has been happening and we just haven’t made any alerts.”
As a senior, White never recalled these alerts or any crime notifications that caused similar levels of confusion.
“My friends and I were definitely freaked out,” White said. “And in the days following, the conversations were, ‘Oh, I don’t want to walk outside alone,’ things like that.”
White and her friends did not know if the alerts meant crime levels were increasing at the College or if this was just the first time students were hearing of it.
“We always have said we felt really safe,” White said. “We used to leave our doors unlocked; now we lock them. No one’s ever really bat an eye before, and I feel like now we’re all kind of thinking twice about that.”
No one’s ever really bat an eye before, and I feel like now we’re all kind of thinking twice about that.
White said the notifications could have been less concerning if the College had clarified to students whether the alerts indicated increased incidents of crime.
Beyond concerns about how students perceive the alerts, some students said the new system could impact survivors who are deciding whether to report an incident.
Lydia-Louise Merritt ’27, vice president of Someone You Know, said the possibility of a campus-wide notification could make an already difficult decision more difficult for survivors. SYK is a peer-educator group on campus that discusses gender-based violence prevention and supporting survivors.
“Coming forward is already scary enough because some people just don’t even feel like their story is valid,” she said. “And then to have their story be broadcasted and or potentially not even have their story be broadcasted through a notification — it just undermines that anonymity that is meant to come from Title IX within these reports.”
Merritt said even when notifications do not include identifying information, students who know the people involved may still be able to infer who an alert concerns.
“It’s isolating and alienating, even though there’s a level of anonymity with it,” Merritt said. “I think the discussions that can stem from these notifications don’t tend to be helpful when it’s circulating with rumors instead of information and preventative care.”
For Merritt, this creates a difficult balance between making the community aware of gender-based violence and protecting the privacy of the people involved.
“I think the notification system is really great for bringing awareness to what could be considered gender-based violence and how much it occurs when it’s formally reported,” she said.
But Merritt said awareness alone may not be enough to support students who experience gender-based violence. She said she believes notifications must be accompanied by stronger education about confidential versus non-confidential resources and reporting options.
“I think a notification that we were going to be more involved in the Clery Act and abiding by that would have been lovely,” Merritt said. “I think an explanation about the Clery Act would have been beneficial.”
Merritt said the challenge is balancing the public’s right to information with the privacy of the person who reported the incident.
“It is a very hard balance to achieve, but I think things like this should have been thought through and communicated with first to at least a group of students who deal with public health and safety to understand what questions they might have,” she said. “I felt like this whole notification system genuinely came out of left field.”
Everton and Butler said student feedback is a part of the College’s process in rolling out these changes. They confirmed that the Office of Public Safety would send a message clarifying to the student body that there has not been an increase in crime since previous years.
“Do we have a culture of safety and security here in William and Mary? I think that’s what we are working towards building here,” Everton said. “Everybody’s going to have an opinion and say how we’re doing it. And that’s good. And we’re going to listen and communicate.”
