Sex assault, counterfeiting reported in Yuba College district

A sexual assault, possession of marijuana, failure to register as a sex offender, and counterfeiting are among the crimes reported in 2011 in the Yuba Community College District and disclosed under a landmark federal law.

A "summary snapshot" of some of the reported crimes states that a Yuba College district police officer determined a student attending the Linda campus was a registered sex offender but failed to register as required with campus police.

The student was arrested and issued a misdemeanor citation, according to the summary, which does not detail the reported sexual assault or the counterfeiting.

The annual report, which also lists such incidents as a bee sting, was among matters before college district trustees at their meeting in Woodland last week.

Five campuses in five different counties are in the Yuba College district.

"We have very safe campuses," Trustee Jim Buchan said on Monday. "We have a very good police force."

"We have to make this report," he said.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act requires colleges participating in federal student financial aid programs to disclose crime information. The Jeanne Clery Act is named for the first-year student who was raped and murdered in 1986 in her residence hall room at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Alison Kiss, executive director of The Clery Center for Security on Campus in Pennsylvania, said the 1990 law has helped protect students.

"It does provide for some transparency on campuses," said Kiss, who added, "It's so much more than just getting the numbers."

"Before the law, there was really nothing governing campus security," she said.

Requirements of the measure are the same for a university of 30,000 students and for a beauty college receiving federal student aid, she said.

Community colleges do not always have the police force that universities can support, the executive director said.

"You have fewer people doing more," Kiss said.

CONTACT Ryan McCarthy at rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4780. Find him on Facebook at /ADrmccarthy or on Twitter at @ADrmccarthy.