{"id":149137,"date":"2026-03-26T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149137\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:32:10","slug":"lehigh-university-police-department-unveils-memorial-in-honor-of-jeanne-clery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149137\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh University Police Department unveils memorial in honor of Jeanne Clery"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 5, 1986, Jeanne Clery was raped and killed in her Lower Centennial dorm room on Lehigh\u2019s campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her death sparked policy changes regarding campus safety protocols, including enactment of the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act<\/a> \u2014 a right to know which law requires colleges and universities to publicly report campus crime data and safety procedures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, nearly 40 years after Clery\u2019s death, people gathered at the Lehigh University Police Department to unveil a memorial in honor of her and the legacy in her name to uphold campus safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Members of the Clery Center<\/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to helping universities meet the Clery Act\u2019s standards, along with LUPD officers, administrators and Clery\u2019s friends and classmates sat in remembrance to listen to speakers and witness the memorial\u2019s reveal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his opening remarks, LUPD Chief Jason Schiffer said Clery is the cornerstone of campus safety officers\u2019 jobs. This includes integrating her story in the department\u2019s training, as well as the training of officers across Lehigh including Gryphons, orientation leaders and tour guides.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said when students hear stories about Clery they learn about her spirit and energy, like how she was a competitive tennis player who used to tell the people she challenged they\u2019d have to take their contact lenses out to have a chance of winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis memorial illustrates a circle of people united in remembrance, and we are proud to be part of that circle now,\u201d Schiffer said. \u201cSo Jeanne, the laughter still echoes, and the stories we tell in your spirit continue to lead our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A memorial was unveiled at LUPD on Tuesday, in honor of Jeanne Clery, who was a Lehigh student killed in her dorm room in 1986. People gathered to honor Clery 40 years later. (Natalie Javitt\/B&W Staff)<\/p>\n

Bob Alig, the center\u2019s executive director, said the organization\u2019s work is grounded in the belief that every student deserves a transparent and supportive campus community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said while no law, policy, or program can erase Clery\u2019s death, education, awareness, accountability and partnership are what the center aims to achieve and significantly matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amid the speakers and unveiling of the memorial, Alig said his favorite aspect of the ceremony was the diversity of people who gathered to celebrate Clery\u2019s memory and the advocacy that keeps it alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sarah Bean Apmann, \u201889, Clery\u2019s roommate, said at her core, Clery was an outstanding person with a beautiful laugh. She said it\u2019s a testament to her character that 40 years later people who knew her still gather to honor her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apmann recalled a time they were sitting and joking in their dorm room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI said as a joke, half-heartedly, \u2018What do you want to be when you grow up?\u2019 She said, \u2018Happy.\u2019 That was Jeanne. That\u2019s what I miss.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Cagnetta, \u201887, the center\u2019s chairman and a friend of Clery, said the answer to that question is why Clery\u2019s death still matters 40 years later \u2014 she wanted to be happy and didn\u2019t have that chance, while everyone else got to move on in life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the people still affected by Clery is Ed Shupp, a member of LUPD at the time of her death who worked with the department for 39 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although unable to attend, Shupp shared a few words with Cagnetta to read. He wrote that not a day goes by where he doesn\u2019t carry Clery and her family in his thoughts and prayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThose days following Clery\u2019s brutal murder are still crystal clear in my mind,\u201d Shupp wrote. \u201cIt was the most difficult and heart wrenching tragedy of my professional career as a police officer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it may never be known the number of lives the Clery Act has saved over the years, Shupp wrote he\u2019s certain the number is significant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He wrote that he continually applauds Clery\u2019s family and the center for the work they do in advocacy for campus safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cagnetta said Shupp\u2019s writing is proof that many people carry the weight of Clery\u2019s death, both outwardly and quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Bean Apmann, \u201989, speaks during an event honoring her roomate Jeanne Clery. Apmann said it\u2019s a testament to Clery\u2019s character that 40 years later people still gather to honor her. (Natalie Javitt\/B&W Staff)<\/p>\n

Together, Cagnetta and Appmann revealed the memorial, showing photos of Clery and notes about her legacy, community and friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A picture illustrated by Cagnetta\u2019s daughter depicted Clery surrounded by faceless people. Cagnetta said the image illustrated the number of people affected no matter how they identify whether it was students, family members, administrators or officers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said his favorite photo of Clery is the one of her smiling in her Lehigh sweatshirt \u2014 showing who she was as an athlete and how approachable and kind she was as a person.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he serves as the center\u2019s chairman, Cagnetta said he was in attendance not officially, but as Clery\u2019s friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c(The memorial) isn\u2019t about making a statement,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we felt we needed to do to show everybody who (Clery) was.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On April 5, 1986, Jeanne Clery was raped and killed in her Lower Centennial dorm room on Lehigh\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7192,153,155,154,19903,5609,1197,523],"class_list":["post-149137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-5-min-read","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-campus-safety","tag-event","tag-feature","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}