In the eyes of the Freeh investigators, Penn State’s approach to Clery Act compliance was “significantly lacking” for years, and those who first heard of a suspected sexual assault in 2001 involving Jerry Sandusky failed to follow through on their obligations under the federal campus safety law.

Investigators said concerns about the university’s Clery Act compliance were raised at Penn State even before the Sandusky case surfaced — but money, time and need to devote attention elsewhere were all cited as factors standing in the way of substantial reform, according to the report.

Originally passed in 1990 and amended several times since, the Clery Act requires higher education institutions who participate in federal student aid programs to record and publicize information about crimes on campus. Under the Clery Act, universities need to keep track of certain types of crimes, including sexual assaults, and publicize alerts regarding any incidents that might pose a threat to the community. The law also requires universities to compile an annual report on campus safety, complete with crime statistics and information on safety procedures.

Under the Clery Act, former assistant coach Mike McQueary, former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former football coach Joe Paterno were all obligated to report — or make sure someone else reported — what they knew regarding the 2001 incident involving Sandusky but failed to fulfill this obligation. According to the Freeh report, the men met the definition of “Campus Security Authorities” as outlined by the Department of Education.

Under the federal definition, CSAs include: campus police or security departments; anyone with “responsibility for campus security” who doesn’t fall under the category of police or security; anyone specified in the university’s statement on campus security policy as “an individual or organization to which students and employees should report crimes;” and anyone who “has significant responsibility for student and campus activities.” The last category applies to, among others: a team coach, an athletic director, a student group’s faculty adviser, a resident assistant, a fraternity or sorority life coordinator and a physician at a campus health center.

In testimony, McQueary said he told Paterno that he saw Sandusky doing something “extremely sexual in nature” with a boy in the Lasch Building shower area in 2001. Paterno, who died of complications related to lung cancer in January, also testified that McQueary told him the incident was of “a sexual nature.”

Investigators said the men — along with Curley, who Paterno and McQueary told about the incident — should have reported the incident to University Police in accordance with the Clery Act. Though then-Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz was also included on initial meetings about the incident and oversaw University Police through his position, investigators point out that Schultz wasn’t a law enforcement officer and wasn’t the person in charge of receiving or compiling Clery Crime statistics for Penn State.

Had Schultz or former Penn State President Graham Spanier forwarded their knowledge of the incident involving Sandusky to University Police, according to the Freeh report, the incident might have been included in the university’s Clery Act statistics and could have “triggered the issuance of a timely warning to the University community.”

Investigators said the person in charge of Clery Act compliance for Penn State didn’t receive formal training before taking on the position and didn’t remember receiving any Clery Act training until 2007. In 2007, according to the report, University Police Director Stephen Shelow shifted Clery Act compliance responsibility from a Crime Prevention Officer to a departmental sergeant — but investigators said the sergeant “could only devote minimal time to these duties.”

At one point, “the [University Police] Director suggested to the then Senior Vice President [for] Finance and Business that the University appoint a ‘compliance coordinator’ to assist with Clery Act implementation,” according to the report. But investigators said the director was told that other priorities at the university needed to be taken care of first.

In recent years, according to the report, university officials began drafting a Cleary Act policy “that would have required written notification to all [Campus Security Authorities] of their roles and responsibilities,” but investigators said the policy was still in draft form as of November 2011.