FRAN KITTEK / The Morning Call
Howard and Connie Clery with portrait of daughter Jeanne
Daughter's murder
sparks crusade
By CHERYL WENNER
Of The Morning Call /f /
E-Lehigh security described B2
onnie Clery is standing beside the
fountain in the courtyard of her
Bryn Mawr home, listening to the
brass wind chimes, and crying.
The delicate rhythm of the chimes and
the water flowing over the fountain remind
her of her daughter Jeanne, a Lehigh University student who was raped and murdered in her dormitory room in April 1986.
Howard and Connie Clery built the fountain as a memorial for their daughter after
reading a poem entitled "The Water Mill,"
which a school friend of Connie's sent her
soon after Jeanne's death.
"The poem says that if the water stops
flowing over the mill, the mill will stop.
And we have to remember that because we
have to keep going," Mrs. Clery says. "We
have to keep fighting /or Jeanne."
An area artist is sculpting a lamb for the
courtyard. "That's how I think of her, as my
sacrificial lamb," Mrs. Cleary says. "She
was so good, so sweet, so pure, so innocent.
She was the exact antithesis of her killer." '
Her killer is Joseph Henry, another Lehigh student, who was unknown to the 19year-old freshman before the night he murdered her.
In the early hours of April 5,1986, Henry,
upset over being rejected by a woman and
losing the presidency of the university's
Black Students Union the day before, left
the off-campus house he shared with several
other students and walked up the hill to the
Stoughton House dormitory.
Finding the front door propped open with
an empty pizza box, he walked into the
building about 5 a.m. and went upstairs to
the third floor, where he looked for an open
room. The door to Jeanne's room was unlocked because she and her roommate had
made a pact, after they lost a key, not to
lock the door at night until both returned to
the room.
Henry walked into Jeanne's room and
brutally beat, kicked and bit her; raped and
sodomized her; slashed her throat with a
Please See CLERYS Page B3 >
THE MOANNG CALL. SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 6. 1987
MX
Right. Jaanoa's parents h«v« toft h*r bexlroom unchanged
since nwr dwath. Bwtow. th« Clwrya at the fountain th«y built
a» a memorial to thair daughter
WAN WTTEK / The Momng Can
Clerys disappointed by Lehigh's response to slaying
^-Continued From Page B1
piece of broken glass, then strangled
her with his bands until she was
dead
He ransacked her room for valuables a radio, two cameras, some
jewelry and a small amount of money which he hid in the laundry
room downstairs while he returned
to her room to make sure he hadn't
left his wallet behind. And to make
sure Jeanne wasn't breathing.
Henry was convicted in April of
first degree murder, rape. Involuntary deviate seiual intercourse, assault, burglary and robbery.
A Lancaster County jury deliberated about 2 1* hours before sentencing him to die in the state's electric
chair, a punishment Howard Clery
regards as "appropriate and warranted." considering how "methodically, and with what vengeance" the
murder was committed. (Henry, who
has not yet been sentenced, will remain in Northampton County Prison
throughout the appeal process.)
The Clerys1 fight for justice has
ended, but they say their fight for
improved security measures on college campuses across the country
has just begun.
Minutes after Henry's sentence
was pronounced, the Clerys told reporters they were filing a civil lawsuit against Henry, Lehlgh University's board of trustees, university
President Peter Liklns. Admissions
Director Samuel Missimer. Vice
President of Student Affairs Marsha
Duncan. Residence Operations Director Barbara Kreppel and Lehigh
Police Chief Eugene Dai
In the 24-page lawsuit filed that
day in Montgomery County Court
the Clerys say the university "agressively and actively" recruited
eanne. a ranked amateur tennis
player In the U.S. Middle States Tennis Association, to have her play tenAsked about the publicity angle,
nis for the university
be said, "No. We're lawyers. We re
They charge that although uninot playing games here. Anyone who
versity administrators knew of the
has ever met the Clerys knows
number of felonies committed at
they're serious, committed people.
and around Lehigh and had studied
the problem of propped-open exteri- This isn't a game to them or to us."
or doors, they failed to protect
Howard Gery says the suit and
Jeanne or warn her and other stuthe questionnaire are "only the bedents about the risk of being victim- ginning."
ized by crimes at the school or the
"We're looking (or legislation
danger of propping open doors.
that will require (ull disclosure of
Lehigh's lawyers filed a prelimion-campos crimes against people
nary objection in June and, accordand property" and also regulate seing to the Clerys' attorney. Joseph
curity standards, be explains. "We'd
Fioravanti of Media, Delaware
also like to get the college guideCounty, depositions are likely to be
books, like Barrons, to Include secucollected in the fall.
rity information."
In the preliminary objection, the
The Clerys ssy their campus-seuniversity argued that charges
curity appeal is primarily directed
against the individual trustees, the
at parents "because they re the ones
administrators and the police chief
who really Influence the administrashould be dropped, and It requested
tors."
a change of venue from Montgom"They're the ones who pay the tuery County Court to Northampton
ition." they note.
County Court.
Response to their crusade has
the
Should they win the case,
been "absolutely amazing," Mrs.
Clerys say they will use the money
Clery says. "We never dreamt It
to start a national foundation in
would snowball like this."
Jeanne's name, to collect and div
Besides parents and students,
tnbute information about security
they've had requests (or the survey
on college and university campuses.
from educators, campus security
They've begun by creating a
people, the director of the Victims
Questionnaire that collegebound stu- Services Center of Montgomery
dents and their parents can send to
County and the president of the
a college s admissions office to find
Pennsylvania School Counselors Asout just how safe or unsafe, a parsociation.
ticular campus is
After the Clerys appeared on
"You pay a lot of money for your "AM Philadelphia," they received a
education, and you have the right to letter from a man telling them that
a safe environment" It reads.
just after he watched them on the
The survey asks 23 "tough quesprogram, his daughter called from
tions." such as:
the University of Delaware. She told
him that her roommate had been
» During the past three years,
how many felonies were committed raped on campus the night before.
on campus' How many rapes? robHe told the Clerys that he'd takea
beries' assaults? burglaries? homitheir advice and asked the girl to
cides1 criminal trespasses?
contact personally not only campus
police but also local police.
How many campus police and
security personnel are there?
"What we're finding out" In
a-Do dormitories have security
talking with other victims of crimes
personnel stationed at the entrance
on college and university campuses.
on a 24-hour basis?
Mrs. Clery claims, "is that some colleges try to hush these things up."
t>Are students expelled for drug
use on campus, and are state liquor
laws vigorously enforced by campus
__ here are reminders of Jeanne
police'
throughout her family's ele»>Are single-sex dormitories
| gant ranch-style home, which
available to all students on demand?
lies at the end of a private
"If a parent sends this to a school tree-lined road next to a lake in one
and the school doesn't reply," Mrs
of the loveliest sections of the PhilaClery reasons, "that could mean
delphia suburb of Bryn Mawr.
there's something rotten in the state
The Clerys are affluent articuof the school. They might have
late and, until Josoph Henry stepped
something to hide."
in, as ideal an American family as
One of Lehigh's lawyers, Gregory sny Hollywood casting director
Harvey of the Philadelphia law firm could dream up.
J
son was killed In aa automobile accident a (ew years ago, but I don't
know how long It'll take me to go
' " it It's still lilting
Howard Clary la a robust and
Morgan, Lewis and Bocklos, says the personable
man with expressive
university has received a few copies
pale blue eyes and a fondness (or dof the Clerys' survey and Is respondI chairman of the alumni
ing with a three-page form letter.
association of Dartmouth College la
"It answers the questions they
New Hampshire and chairman of
address not In exactly the same
Rapldfonna, a mail-order business
format but it addresses all the Isforms company la Bellmawr, N J-,
sues," he says.
be has a dignified, businesslike manThe letter describes the school's
ner about him but also displays a
security force and what changes
have been made in security in the
his smile.
past IS months, but does not ssy
Connie Clery Is a graduate of
anything specific about (elonies
Barnard College In New York and s
committed on campus.
member of the board of the St Edmoods Home for Crippled Children.
"Our No.l staff priority and the
issue that receives the greatest staff
Hospitable and outgoing, she
time and energy on this campus is
speaks of their loss In personal
prevention," the letter says. Crime
terms. Among the clippings and letprevention at Lehlgh, Just like in
ters she has saved are papers
your home town, is a matter of
Jeanne wrote as a student at the priawareness and attitude. We do not
vate Agnes irwln Softool in
want our students to live in constant
fear
'as a birthday note covered with
"But like you, we want our young jtearts and sappy faces.
people to develop a healthy aware"To the prettiest mom In the
ness of the kinds of thlnp that can
world," It says. "T love you no mathappen and, most of all, of the Imwhat and don't forget 11 Love,
ter
portance of basic precautions they
can take which will minimise the
the Clerys also havelwo sons.
likelihood of Incidents."
Howard III and Benjamin, but
When the Clerys' civil suit was
Jeanne was their youngest, a mixfirst filed, they asked S2S million In
tommy who grew into a
"chievous
damages. That figure was later
Kfjgjit anracuve young wunuairtn
withdrawi/Harvey Mys, because
Joved stutteo: snaoHT ooiu. mini to
prohibitare
case
civil
a
In
plaintiffs
Lehigh and playing tennis.
ed from naming specific damages of
She Is buried just s few miles
more than S20.000.
from the Clery home. In Calaway
Harvey contends that Fioravanti
vary Cemetery hi Lower Merlon
named a specific figure for the sake
of publicity, so that news media cov- Township.
There are framed photographs of
ering the story would duly report
Jeanne throughout the bouse, and
that the Clerys had filed *a SB milher portrait hangs above the living
Uon suit" against the university.
room mantle. Piled la her bedroom,
"It's up U the Judge and Jury to
which her parents have left undecide on a figure, and it's very archanged since ber death, are her
bitrary," explains Bob Curran. a
and personal effects, recentclothes
partner In Floravantl's law firm,
ly obtained from the university.
but 125 million was our estimation
It's the standard college student's
of pain and suffering In the case of
wardrobe plenty of colorful Tyoung girl who died the way Jeaona
Pictures of aa adolescent Jeanoe
with some of her friends from the
Agnes Irwin School are on the night
table beside her bed. On a bookcase
in the corner stand doaeas of tennis
trophysand medals.
.One of the medals belonp to
_g»duaU4 from, lehfgn" la June after
women a singles in lennuTGiranl
.Jeanne and wanted the Clerys to
Iriend, "one of the toughest players
I've ever seen."
"She was a true fighter on the
"fcTwork Turd U wfa7r~accdrding to
Gar ant
When visitors arrive, another reminder of Jeanoe her pet Shin
Tzu, Met Ling (that's Chinese (or
"Uttle Cutie") - scratches at the
screen door and barks to be allowed
in. Mrs. Clery holds him on ber lap
as she talks about her daughter and
the battle she and ber husband are
waging to make coUea*.rcmnuses
safer.
Howard Clery says Jeanne. who
would have been 2Don Thanksglvin)
was thinking of majoring In socloloO
"She was Just a freshman and
hadn't really decided on a major,
but she wanted to get Into a field
where she could work with people,"
be says.
The last time the Clerys saw
Jeanne alive was when they droppe*
her off at Stoughton House just aftei
the Easter vacation. (Jeanne had
wanted to make the traditional
spring break trip to Florida with a
group of her friends; but (earing for
her safety, her parents said no.)
Tm Just so grateful we bad her
with us during Easter week." Mrs.
Clery says. "She and I sat In UM living room and went through the
freshman class book, looking st pictures of sll her friends st Lehlgh.
She wanted to tell me shout all the
funny things they did. U was very
serene and peaceful week, full of
laughter.-
shirts, sweat shirts and sweat pants,
tennis practice shorts and a batch of
stuffed Snoopys la assorted slses. Including the bedraggled old gray
Snoopy Jeanne used to sleep with,
'Tve given some of her things
away to ber very best (fiends," Mrs.
Clery says. "But It's so hard. When I
knew they were on the way, I tried
to prepare myself to go through everything, and we tackled some of It
with the help of s dear friend whose
iv _" 'f. M *"
'
.
. .^rV*us\ '
When they took Jaanne back to
school on Easter Sunday, Howard
Clery kissed and hugged her and
watched as she and Us wife disappeared up the stairs, the same stairs
bar killer took a few days later.
The next day, UM Clerys left for
a business seminar in Bermuda.
When they came home the next Saturday afternoon, April 4. there wasa
police car la the driveway.
"My first thought was that something must have gone wrong with
the alarm system," recalls Mrs.
Clery. "They said, 'No, please come
Inside,' and I could tell by their
(aces that something was terribly
wrong."
"Is it Grandma?" she asked.
"No," the officers repeated. "Please
"So, ss Howard paid the tail
driver. 1 braced myself, said the
Our Father* and walked down the
long, long haU."
When they reached the living
room, "They made me sit down.
Then, they told me," she says, her
voice breaking. "Then I had to tell
Howard. After that I don't remember much."
A woman who was looking after
the bouse while they were away had
Uken a call from Northampton
County Coroner Joseph Relchel, so
Howard Clery phoned him back.
"He told us he couldn't tell us
what had caused her death until after the autopsy," be says. "Looking
back. I think he must have been tryIng to let us down easy."
Relchel remembers telling him
that Jeanne had been murdered, but
knows be didn't describe the circumstances during the Initial conversation, because It seemed as it her father knew other members of the
family were listening on other extensions, and be didn t want me to
go Into the details."
Coroners are often asked bow
they muster up the strength to break
the news of a person's death to his
or ber loved ones. Reichel says,
mien Is DO easy formula. How do
you tell them? You just have to tell
them."
So Retcbel phoned the Clerys
back on Sunday to tell them the results of the autopsy. Jeanne's throat
had been slashed, he said, and she
had been raped, sodomized, beaten
anfl oUKfl all over before ^ying of "
. strangulation.
University President Ukins
called on Sunday to offer his sympathy. He called again early Monday
to tell Mrs. Clery "be was sorry to
report that the suspect was another
Lehlgh student"
"He was sorry to report that It
was another Lehlgh student" she repeats. "My God, I was so relieved
that they had arrested someone.
Never mind being sorry that he was
a Lehlgh student
"Can you Imagine a parent not
knowing who murdered their child?
Some parents go through this and
they never find out for the rest of
their lives. At least we knew
Jeanne's murderer had been found."
From then on, the Clerys dealt
primarily with the state police, who
had been called In to Investigate the
murder soon after Jeanne's body
was found.
'' She was so good, so sweet, so pure, so
innocent. She was the exact antithesis other
killer."
Connie CUry
"They were outstanding," Mrs.
Clery says. "They came to see us,
told us the whole story and were so
sensitive. The state police and the
district attorneys couldn't have been
more helpful or more caring."
After Jeanne's death, one of
Jeanne's professors, English teacher
Elizabeth Filer, Invited the Clerya to
dinner at her home la Bethlehem
and gave them a paper the girl had
handed In the day before her death.
Entitled "Growing Up In Aa
Androgynous Environment" the paper was about traditional sex roles
and stereotypes. In it Jeanne wrote
that though her parents fit the conventional molds her father the
breadwinner, her mother the homemaker they always treated ber
and her two older brothers as
equals, raising them with the same
expectations and privileges as well
as the same punishments.
"That paper helped us to survive," says Mrs. Clary.
Her Jeanne's death, Lehigh's
student newspaper. The
Brown and white, ran a story oa the campus police fel-
ony report, reasoning, Howard Clery
says, that it contained Information
that ought to be made available to
paying customers of the university.
He has long since committed the
numbers to memory: In the iW
years from 1M1 through May 19M,
there were 171 felonies committed
by students or non-students on campus - II* burglaries. 47 assaults. 41
criminal trespasses, eight rapes,
seven sexual assaults (other than
rspe), three robberies and one homicide.
Campus police department reports show that lit of those felonies
occurred between IMS and 19M. including an unusually high number of
burglaries, IK.
"We're not naive as far as what
goes on st colleges and universities."
says Howard Clery. He and hu wife
both served on the parents' committee of Tulane University In New Orleans, the school their sons attended.
"We were told ol the felonies on
campus. There was a rape of a girl
In her dormitory room, and then
shortly thereafter there was a rapemurder.
"In fact Jeanne was accepted
there; but we decided, when she was
accepted at Ldijgh. that It might be
a safer place. Besides, It was closer
to home."
After Jeanne's'death. Lehigh's
Committee on Residential Environment under the direction of Trustee
Kirk Peodleton. completed a security report which was submitted to
Uklns in June 1K6.
In the report Lehigh's security
force was compared with those at
Lafayette College. Moravian College. Muhlenberg College. Princeton
University and lie Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. NY Of the
six schools, Lehlgh had the wont ratio between security personnel and
students: one officer for every 517
students.
Since that report was released,
the university has supplemented its
14-member police force (that's 12 officers plus the lieutenant and the
chief) with three security guards.
"It's not that the campus police
aren't trying to do a good Job, Howard Clery says, "but {Key need more
people."
Mrs. Clery says she was disappointed when Lehigh administrators
called Jeanne's murder an aberration, "Instead of admitting that
crime Is a growing problem, not
only at Lehigh but on college campuses all over the country '
"Lehlgh conld'va been a pathfinder." she says. "When you have a
problem, you tackle It and solve it
Isn't that what learning Is all about?
They should have admitted that a
security problem exists, instead of
burying their heads in the sand "
When Dean of Students John
Smeaton and Vice President for Student Affairs Marsha Duncan brought
the Clerys a refund check for
Jeanne's unused tuition, Howard
Clery says they told them a Japanese pavilion and meditation garden
was to be built outside Stoughton
House as a memorial to Jeanhe
"But they never said how something like this could have happened
or what kind of security they had
that could allow this to happen," he
says.
And last December, when the
Clerys attended the dedication of the
Jeanne Clery Memorial Pavilion
with Ukins, be adds, he mentioned
to Ukins that they had received a
copy of the Committee on Residential Environment's security report
and were "horrified by the lack of
security at Lehigh."
Howard Clery says Ukins did not
answer but said it was time for the
ceremony to begin.
"He never raised the question
again afterward, and I felt that he
wasn't going to respond to my comment" be says. "So I wasn't going to
bring it up again. I thought then that
litigation was probably the only way
to go."
The Oeryt are scheduled to appear on "Hour Magazine" on
KYW-TVat II a.m. tomorrow
Complimentary coptet pi their
camoua-eecurity questionnaire are
available by tending a atamped.
teH addressed, least-size •/>*•*»•«
to Bo* 1518. Bryn Mawr 190