Wednesday, October 10, 2001

Privacy violations acceptable temporarily
Commentary from The Daily Nebraskan

The FBI can check your student records without your knowledge or consent — the same records that anyone else needs your written permission to see. All the bureau needs is a tip that you might know something about terrorist plots against the United States.

The Office of Registration and Records says the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has not released any student records to the FBI yet.

But we won’t be surprised when we hear they have.

Normally, we would be outraged about such blatant disregard of student privacy.

We’d condemn the U.S. Department of Education’s opinion that college administrators can release our private information because FBI requests will fall under the one exception to the federal law protecting our records.

We’d go on about how the “health or safety emergency” clause should be reserved ...
For the largest and most important criminal investigation in this nation’s history.

For protecting Americans from terrorists who might already be inside the United States and planning follow-up attacks.

For a real “safety emergency.”

But, reluctantly, we have to agree with the Department of Education.

The FBI does need to check the records of students who may be involved in terrorism.

And the normal process for checking student records in a criminal investigation — going to a judge to get a subpoena — is both too slow and too likely to tip off those being investigated.

We are living in a different world than the one that existed before Sept. 11 — a world where we are not quite as safe and our everyday rights and conveniences are not quite as well-defined.

We hope investigators are mindful of civil liberties, and we know that, historically, law enforcement officials have not been.

But at least for now, we don’t have much choice.

We either have to trust the FBI to walk lightly on our rights or not allow them to view the records and simply hope no material in a student record would help stop a terrorist attack.

We’ll take our chances with the FBI’s judgment.

For now.

But a more free hand for law enforcement in a time of national crisis should not carry over into loose and ineffective protection of student records.

We’re afraid that once law enforcement officials have had access to our academic records, they will find a way to look at them again.

Universities and the Department of Education must not allow law enforcement to view student records any time the FBI mentions national security. When the crisis is over — and there will be great controversy about when the crisis really ends — academic records must be sealed again.

The once iron-clad protection of the paperwork at Registration and Records must become iron-clad again.

Sadly, we don’t know of any historical precedent for law enforcement giving up a new surveillance privilege without a new law or a court order.

We hope this will be the one shining example in history.

But, if it isn’t, Congress must stand ready to strengthen the law again.

We’ll be watching.

The Daily Nebraskan is an independent newspaper serving the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This editorial was distributed by U-Wire.