Legal Statements

Policy for Reporting the Annual Disclosure of Crime Statistics:

The University Police Department prepares this report to comply with the Campus Crime Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). The full text of this report can be located on our Web site. You will also be able to connect to our site via the LETU Home page at www.letu.edu.

This report is prepared in cooperation with the local law enforcement agencies surrounding our main campus and alternate sites, Housing and Residential Services, and Student Affairs offices. Each entity provides updated information on their educational efforts and programs to comply with the Act.  Campus crime, arrest and referral statistics include those reported to the University Police Department, designated campus officials (including but not limited to directors, deans, department heads, designated HRLO staff, judicial affairs, advisors to students/student organizations and athletic coaches), and local law enforcement agencies. These statistics may also include crimes that have occurred in private residences or businesses and is not required by law. Texas Law requires prompt, mandatory reporting to the local law enforcement agency by health care practitioners (such as those at Student Health Services) when they provide medical services to a person they know or reasonably suspects is suffering from wounds inflicted by a firearm or is a result of assaultive or abusive conduct. Counselors and Psychological Services staff inform their clients of the procedures to report crime to the University Police on a voluntary or confidential basis, should they feel it is in the best interest of the client. A procedure is in place to anonymously capture crime statistics disclosed confidentially during such a session.

Each year, an e-mail notification is made to all enrolled students that provides the Web site to access this report. Faculty and staff receive similar annual notification with their paycheck. Copies of the report may also be obtained at the University Police Department Office located at the Student Services building 614 Glaske Dr., Room #120 or by calling (903) 233-4441. All prospective employees may obtain a copy from Human Resources in the Business Services Building, 624 Glaske Dr. or by calling (903) 233-4170.  The Web site address will be available on University employment applications.

Crime Reporting

In an emergency, call 911

Any criminal or suspicious activity should be reported immediately to University Police. Persons loitering on parking lots or around buildings should be reported promptly. Persons exhibiting unusual or apparently violent behavior should be reported promptly. You may report a crime or suspicious activity to University Police by dialing 903-233-4444 or 4444 from any campus telephone.

The UPD encourages anyone who is the victim or witness to any crime to promptly report the incident to the police. Because police reports are public records under state law, the University Police Department cannot hold reports of crime in confidence. Confidential reports for purposes of inclusion in the annual disclosure of crime statistics can generally be made to other campus security authorities, as identified below.

Confidential Reporting Procedures

If you are the victim of a crime and do not want to pursue action within the University system or the criminal justice system, you may still want to consider making a confidential report. With your permission, the Chief or a designee of UPD can file a report on the details of the incident without revealing your identity. The purpose of a confidential report is to comply with your wish to keep the matter confidential, while taking steps to ensure the future safety of yourself and others. With such information, the University can keep an accurate record of the number of incidents involving students, determine where there is a pattern of crime with regard to a particular location, method, or assailant, and alert the campus community to potential danger. Reports filed in this manner are counted and disclosed in the annual crimes statistics for the institution.

Counselors and Confidential Reporting

As a result of the negotiated rulemaking process which followed the signing into law, the 1998 amendments to 20 U.S.C. Section 1092 (f), clarification was given to those considered to be campus security authorities. Campus “Pastoral Counselors” and Campus “Professional Counselors,” when acting as such, are not considered to be a campus security authority and are not required to report crimes for inclusion into the annual disclosure of crime statistics. As a matter of policy, they are encouraged, if and when they deem it appropriate, to inform persons being counseled of the procedures to report crimes on a voluntary basis for investigation and inclusion into the annual crime statistics.

Counselors are defined as:

Pastoral Counselor
An employee of an institution who is associated with a religious order or denomination recognized by that religious order or denomination as someone who provides confidential counseling and who is functioning within the scope of that recognition as a pastoral counselor.

Professional Counselor
An employee of an institution whose official responsibilities include providing psychological counseling to members of the institution’s community and who is functioning within the scope of his or her license or certification.

The University Police Department and local law enforcement have a very positive working relationship and maintain an inter-local agreement which augments each agencies jurisdiction during the course of mutual or over-lapping interests or investigations.  University Police personnel attend routine meetings with local law enforcement agencies to exchange ideas and concerns affecting the University community. 

After-Hours Access

During business hours, the University (excluding certain housing facilities) will be open to students, parents, employees, contractors, guests and invitees. During non-business hours access to all University facilities is by key, if issued, or by admittance via the University or Residence Life staff. Admittance to all lab facilities is secured by permission from the professor or department having control of the lab. Each department supplies University Police with an access list. Persons not on the access list for a specific lab will not be admitted. 

In the case of periods of extended closing, the University will admit only those with prior written approval to all facilities. UPD recommends that students bring documents giving authorization for access with them when requesting assistance, as this helps to facilitate the process. 

Residence halls are secured 24 hours a day. Over extended breaks, the doors of all halls will be secured around the clock, and entry codes will be changed. Some facilities may have individual hours, which may vary at different times of the year. In these cases, the facilities will be secured according to schedules developed by the department responsible for the facility.

Emergencies may necessitate changes or alterations to any posted schedules. Areas that are revealed as problematic may have security surveys conducted of them. Administrators from the Dean's Office, Physical Plant, Residence Life and other concerned areas review the results of such surveys. These surveys help to examine security issues such as landscaping, locks, alarms, lighting and communications.

Hazing

Legal overview and University Policy

LeTourneau University proudly operates by the guidelines of Biblical truth and Constitutional rights as well as Federal, State and local laws.  Hazing is a long time college “tradition” that all too often represents a breach of all three of the afore-mentioned authorities. College pranks are a way of life; it is the unfortunate circumstances of pranks taking unexpected turns or being carried too far in the excitement of the moment that necessitates legal intervention into what might otherwise just be a good time of fun and fellowship.

The Texas Penal Code defines hazing as “any intentional, knowing, or reckless act, occurring on or off the campus of an educational institution, by one person alone or acting with others, directed against a student, that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in an organization.” The fact that the pledge or newcomer consents to participation is NOT A DEFENSE TO PROSECUTION! A conviction under this statute carries a penalty of fine and/or jail sentence. In any case, a substantiated charge of this level may ruin your professional reputation for the rest of your life.

The reality of the matter is that many of the words in the preceding paragraph are interpreted individually for the purposes of this specific law. This means that the law is really much more far reaching than it actually appears to be. Hazing is interpreted to be causing a person to do things that may be injurious to any person’s health, dignity or mental well-being that they would not otherwise choose to do on their own for the purposes of being included in a group. A group may be anything from one of our Societies to a floor community or other social or professional group.

LeTourneau University takes great pride in the caliber and intellect of the student body. The faculty and staff of the University believe, as a whole, that our students are capable of maintaining certain traditional initiation rites without being injurious to the dignity, health or mental well-being of pledges and new-comers. This paragraph is not an invitation to seek out means of skirting the law, but rather a challenge to identify and implement initiations that are up-lifting and truly aimed at the purpose for which any of our groups exists – to glorify God through our personal and professional development.

Texas Penal Code: Hazing definitions and Personal Hazing Offense