Greek scorecards and campus crime stats: How LSU’s web site is working in the direction of higher transparency | Information

Over the previous few years, LSU has carried out sure pages on their web site in an effort to be extra clear with college students and fogeys.

On the LSU Greek life web page, college students can discover neighborhood scorecards for each Greek group on campus. The scorecards present details about every chapter, together with GPA common, chapter standing and violation data.

Following the 2017 dying of Max Gruver, an LSU pupil who died from fraternity hazing on LSU’s campus, former LSU President F. King Alexander created the President’s Job Power on Greek Life, in line with the LSU web site.

After what areas LSU wanted to handle, an motion plan was created to enhance security inside Greek organizations and supply extra transparency about chapter data and habits. Greek scorecards had been added to LSU’s web site as a part of this effort.

Particularly, the motion plan states that they might implement “an easy-to-access internet portal with scorecards reporting on the behavioral report and present standing of every Greek chapter on campus.”

“Together with the violation historical past was a choice made within the strategy of our new web site design. It’s essential to be clear with the neighborhood, potential members and the mother and father [and] supporters of present and future members,” stated Shawnna Eberhard-Smith, the Greek Life director at LSU.

By means of the motion plan, every Greek chapter is required to have a scorecard that exhibits their seven-year violation report. Any probation consequence letters or suspension letters are additionally seen below the violation report tab. Different data, together with philanthropy funds raised and repair hours for the yr, are up to date yearly for each chapter.

Eberhard-Smith says that no Greek organizations had any objections to the data being made seen on LSU’s web site. Every chapter supplies among the data on the scorecards, whereas the Greek Life workplace is in control of gathering and verifying the data and updating the web site.

“The scorecards assist potential members study extra about every chapter that they could be becoming a member of. It assists in them making a extra knowledgeable choice,” Eberhard-Smith stated. “We proceed to be as clear as attainable.”

Together with the Greek scorecards, LSU has not too long ago created a extra direct strategy to view data concerning crime on their web site.

As a part of the Louisiana Board of Regents’ Energy-Primarily based Violence Act, all Louisiana establishments are required to have a button on their web site exhibiting campus crime statistics. Just like different Louisiana colleges, LSU created their “campus crime stats” button in April 2022 and has it on the prime of their web site.

“We’ve at all times had this data accessible, however you form of needed to know the place to look,” Title IX Coordinator Joshua Jones stated.

By means of the campus crime stats button, college students can view Title IX studies and assets in addition to see updates on LSU’s Title IX Progress Report. 

Jones describes the creation of the webpage as “a group effort” that concerned collaboration from the Workplace of Civil Rights and Title IX, the LSU Police Division and the Workplace of Communications and College Relations.

With campus crime data readily accessible, Jones hopes that college students and fogeys are extra conscious of security on campus.

“The purpose of all of that is that people, you understand, perceive security right here at LSU… It’s actually about informing college students and their mother and father of what goes on at LSU,” Jones stated. “It’s simply one thing that all of us want to pay attention to in order that we as a neighborhood can look out for each other and create a safer neighborhood.”

Jones says that making this data accessible shall be helpful to incoming freshmen and college students contemplating attending LSU.

“Particularly with incoming college students… security will not be on the forefront of their thoughts. And so [the question is] how will we get that extra on the forefront?” Jones stated. “It is a extra clear strategy to have that dialog and talk with mother and father and college students.”

The Workplace of Civil Rights and Title IX has future plans for higher transparency, together with probably including an annual report back to the campus crime stats web page and specializing in social media efforts. 

Jones says that college students have beforehand expressed wanting a strategy to simply get data and work together with the Title IX Workplace. Whereas the Workplace of Civil Rights and Title IX beforehand posted data on LSU’s important Twitter account, they determined there was an excessive amount of data being shared by the account to actually give attention to Title IX.

To resolve this, the Workplace of Civil Rights and Title IX not too long ago launched their very own Twitter account to speak data to campus faster, and they’re engaged on a social media marketing campaign to extend their following. 

For different crime data, the LSU Police web site has a each day crime log and an annual safety and fireplace report accessible to the general public, additionally accessible by the campus crime stats web page. In keeping with LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard, these pages are required below the Jeanne Clery Act and knowledge goes way back to 2012.

Ballard has discovered that there was a constructive response to the brand new webpages.

“The suggestions we’ve gotten with the Greek Life scorecard has been constructive and is a means for fogeys and college students to know extra about chapters earlier than them as choices to affix,” Ballard stated. “Having issues just like the scorecard and the each day crime log and annual safety studies additionally let college students and fogeys examine LSU to different universities they could be contemplating.”