Friday, October 12, 2001

Some student records disclosed after attacks
By Bryan O'Connor
Montana Kaimin

MISSOULA, Mont. (U-WIRE) — Right to privacy vs. national security in America has come to the forefront in the weeks following Sept. 11, and the FBI’s recent actions have some college administrators wondering where to draw the line.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, student records are confidential. Parents have control of the records until a student turns 18, then they can only be disclosed with the student’s permission.

Normally, if the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Justice Department or U.S. Marshals want access to students’ records, they must obtain permission or get a subpoena.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, several colleges were contacted by the FBI wishing to inspect students’ records.

According to a nationwide survey by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, about 200 universities have been contacted by the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Services.

Lindsey Kozberg, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, said many colleges contacted the department to ask if the FERPA allowed disclosure of students’ records without a subpoena.

“We have told them that under the circumstances, the health and safety exception applies,” Kozberg told the Kaimin Tuesday.

FERPA, also known as the Buckley amendment, has a clear exception for cases like this, Kozberg said. In times of war or national crisis, no subpoena is required to access student records, she said.

University of Montana has not received any requests from the FBI or other agencies to inspect student records, said Phil Bain, registrar at UM. He said there is a clear distinction between directory information and the non-directory information the FBI is searching for.

Directory information includes name, address, telephone number, date of birth, major and other information not considered to be an invasion of privacy if disclosed, he said. Non-directory information is simply all other private information not included in directory information.

Students can request that their directory information not be disclosed without written permission, Bain said.

David Aronofsky, UM legal counsel, said he just returned from a conference at Colorado State University where one of the main topics included student record privacy.

“There is no question that the health and safety exception applied right after the attacks,” Aronofsky said. “But the further away from Sept. 11 we get, the validity of that exception starts to become questionable.”

Aronofsky has requested to assess the legal basis for any requests from any agency to inspect UM students’ non-directory information. Usually when the FBI or any federal agency contacts the school, it is to obtain a record that a student has agreed to disclose, he said.

“If a student is applying to any of those agencies, they must sign a disclosure waiver, or their application will be thrown out,” Aronofsky said.

But Aronofsky said he and his colleagues agreed requests by federal agencies conducting investigations without a subpoena or consent should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.