Updates

Fines levied against Yale over past crime reporting

The US Department of Education has fined the university $165,000 for violating the department’s rules about the reporting of campus crime. Among other things, Yale was cited for failing to include in its annual crime report four forcible sex offenses in 2001 and 2002 that had been reported to a grievance board but not to police. The department said it launched its investigation in response to a Yale Alumni Magazine article that raised questions about the university’s compliance with the Jeanne Clery Act (“Lux, Veritas, and Sexual Trespass,” July/August 2004). The university does not dispute the findings but said it would seek to have the fine reduced.

Settlement in suit over 1998 murder investigation

A former Yale lecturer who was publicly named as a suspect—but never charged—in the murder of his student has settled his last remaining legal claims against the university and New Haven police. James Van de Velde ’82 was thesis adviser to Suzanne Jovin ’99, whose murder in December 1998 has not been solved. Just after the murder, Yale canceled Van de Velde’s spring classes and publicly stated that he was a suspect. Van de Velde sued, saying that his career, health, and reputation had been damaged (“Van de Velde Sues University Officials,” Summer 2003). The City of New Haven paid $200,000 to settle; the amount Yale paid was not disclosed.