AU
Policy on Clery Timely Warning Notices, Safety Advisories and Emergency Notification
American University's Policy on Clery Timely Warning Notices, Safety Advisories and Emergency Notification is a published Safety and Risk Management policy that defines three distinct notification categories and routes them through the AU Alerts system.
Read the official policyInstitution
American University
Private R1 · DC
~14,000 studentsAU Alerts
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Emergency Notification timing and exceptionverbatim
Emergency Notification will be issued without delay and taking into account the safety of the community. American University will determine the content of an Emergency Notification and initiate the notification system, unless the notification will compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.
- — Mirrors the Clery Act emergency-notification standard, including the 'compromise efforts' exception.
Safety Advisory definitionverbatim
American University issues Safety Advisories to notify students and employees when it is determined that there is a string of criminal activity, usually property crime related or other criminal activity that is not subject to the timely warning standard required by the Clery Act.
- — Distinguishes Safety Advisories from Clery timely warnings; examples include burglary of unoccupied space and minor thefts.
AU Alerts channelsverbatim
AU notifies the campus community of emergency and crisis situations using AU Alerts, with messages that provide information on what is happening, what to do, and links to available additional information. Communication tools include text alerts, e-mail alerts, AU computer screen messages, indoor yellow AlertUs emergency beacon boxes and outdoor speakers located throughout campus.
- — Enumerates the AU Alerts delivery channels, including AlertUs beacon boxes and outdoor speakers.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- Timely Warning Notice: a Clery Act crime within Clery geography that poses a serious or continuing threat (homicide, sex offenses, aggravated assault, burglary of occupied space, motor vehicle theft, arson, robbery, hate crimes, domestic/dating violence, stalking). Safety Advisory: a string of criminal activity (usually property crime such as burglary of unoccupied space or minor theft) not subject to the Clery timely-warning standard. Emergency Notification: confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety.
- Who decides
- American University determines the content of an Emergency Notification and initiates the notification system; responsible authorities exercise professional judgment, including whether issuance would compromise response efforts.
- Timeliness standard
- Emergency Notification will be issued without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, unless issuing it would compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Three-tier framework expressly tied to the Clery Act: Timely Warning Notices for serious/continuing-threat Clery crimes, Safety Advisories for non-Clery-threshold criminal patterns, and Emergency Notifications for immediate significant emergencies.
- Testing cadence
- Test runs of AU Desktop Alerts are performed two to three times a year, with advance notice to the community; procedures are documented in the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report published each fall (around October 1).
- Scope & limits
- Timely Warnings are limited to Clery crimes in Clery geography meeting the serious-or-continuing-threat standard; Safety Advisories cover lower-level patterns outside that standard; Emergency Notifications may be withheld where issuance would compromise response or victim-assistance efforts.
ChannelsSmsEmailDesktop PopupPa SystemWebsiteTwitter XFacebook
Analysis
Reading the policy
American University's policy establishes three distinct notification types under one framework. A Clery Timely Warning Notice is issued for Clery Act crimes that represent a serious or continuing threat; the policy enumerates qualifying incident categories including criminal homicide (nonnegligent and negligent manslaughter), sex offenses (forcible/nonforcible), aggravated assault, burglary (occupied rooms/offices), motor vehicle theft, arson, robbery, hate crimes, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. A Safety Advisory is a lower-threshold communication the university issues to notify students and employees when it determines there is a string of criminal activity, usually property-crime related or other activity that is not subject to the timely-warning standard required by the Clery Act, such as burglaries of unoccupied rooms/buildings/structures and minor thefts. An Emergency Notification addresses an immediate significant emergency or dangerous situation involving a threat to health or safety.
For Emergency Notifications the policy adopts the Clery Act standard nearly verbatim: the notification will be issued without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, and American University will determine the content of the notification and initiate the notification system, unless issuing the notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency. That compromise exception is the principal limit on the otherwise-without-delay obligation.
Notifications are delivered through the AU Alerts system, which AU describes as providing information on what is happening, what to do, and links to additional information through text alerts, e-mail alerts, AU computer (desktop) screen messages, indoor yellow AlertUs emergency beacon boxes, and outdoor speakers located throughout campus, supplemented by social media such as the @AUAlerts account. Faculty, staff, and students are automatically enrolled to receive AU Alerts via their AU e-mail address.
The broader compliance framing appears in AU's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, published each fall and distributed to the community around October 1, which documents the same timely-warning, safety-advisory, and emergency-notification procedures. American University also tests its alerting components: AU notes that test runs of AU Desktop Alerts are performed two to three times a year with advance notice. Scope is bounded by Clery geography and the threat criteria, with timely warnings reserved for serious/continuing-threat Clery crimes and safety advisories used for lower-level patterns of crime that fall outside the Clery timely-warning standard.
Takeaways
Key findings
American University maintains a single published policy covering three notification tiers: Clery Timely Warning Notices, Safety Advisories, and Emergency Notifications.
Emergency Notifications must be issued 'without delay' unless issuance would compromise efforts to assist victims or mitigate the emergency.
Safety Advisories are a deliberately lower-threshold tool for property-crime patterns that fall outside the Clery timely-warning standard.
AU Alerts delivers via text, email, AU desktop screen messages, indoor AlertUs beacon boxes, and outdoor speakers; community members are auto-enrolled via AU email.
AU Desktop Alerts are tested two to three times a year with advance notice, and procedures are restated in the annually published Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
8 documented times AU’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Social
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningclerysafety-advisorywashington-dcprivate-r1
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion