With killer on the loose, officials lied, report says

CHICAGO — An independent report into Laura Dickinson's death contends university officials covered up the likelihood that a crime had been committed when the killer was still at large.

The 568-page document, commissioned by the university's board of regents, found that school authorities withheld information, deceived the public and potentially violated a federal law designed to warn students of campus safety threats.

"The facts show that the university failed to timely and properly warn the campus community about Ms. Dickinson's death, which was unquestionably a possible homicide," says the report, by the Detroit law firm Butzel Long.

"After they realized they had a murder, not only did they not warn people, they lied about it," said Daniel Carter, senior vice president of the national nonprofit organization Security on Campus, founded by the parents of slain Lehigh University student Jeanne Clery.

"Every other residential student on that campus was risking their lives. It's reflective of a culture that would rather keep things secret and deal with them internally."

The incident has additional resonance because of the April killings at Virginia Tech, where university officials were criticized for failing to alert students after the first two victims were found dead in a dorm room. As in that case, critics say Eastern Michigan's actions could have placed more students in harm's way.

A federal law named after Clery mandates universities publicize crimes on campus and warn students about safety threats. The U.S. Education Department is investigating whether Eastern Michigan violated the Clery Act.

This week, Eastern Michigan President John Fallon formally apologized before the board of regents for the university's handling of the case and vowed that "never again will such a confounding series of mistakes be made on my watch."

Statements on the university's Web site say officials were following the lead of the Police Department and medical examiner's office, which said they were investigating a "death," rather than a "homicide."

Victor Walker, 31, an Eastern Michigan senior, said he thinks school officials had students' best interest at heart but should have done more.

"Even if it had been 'We are not sure but we may have a possible homicide' ... then you don't walk around with your head in the clouds not believing you could fall victim to the same thing."