Thursday, October 18, 2001

House passes bill giving access to student records
By K.C. Crain
Daily Californian

BERKELEY, Calif. (U-WIRE) — A bill granting federal officials unprecedented access to student records has passed in the House of Representatives, after lawmakers made compromises to ensure some student privacy protections.

The House bill, which passed Friday and must now be reconciled with the Senate version before being sent to the president, would give high-level federal officials the option to seize any student’s records.

But new protections now require a judge’s approval before federal agents can access student records. Legislators also added a “sunset clause,” which stipulates that the law will automatically expire in three years.

The sunset clause is not included in the Senate version of the bill, said Jeff Lungin, spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce had suggested deleting parts of the bill relating to increasing access to student records, but the House ended up passing the original proposal after adding in the privacy protections.

The proposal has sparked criticism from civil liberties groups that say it allows for intrusion of privacy.

“Anyone working for the attorney general, with his orders, and no emergency situation, can access (student records),” said Kristy Ringor, a spokesperson for the U.S. Student Association, a national lobbying group. “They don’t have to get a subpoena. There is some judicial oversight, but they don’t need as much proof of evidence.”

But the bill does offer some restrictions to access, said Mimi Devlin, spokesperson for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Federal agents must convince the judge that the search is warranted and also say what they will do with the information from student records.

“(While) the administration’s first proposition gave broad authority for collecting information to the attorney general, the current bill directs the attorney general to produce guidelines and requires giving probable cause to a judge,” Devlin said.

She added that it is “not the perfect piece of legislation, but these are unprecedented times, and law enforcement needs new tools.”

Critics say the bill implies broad and ambiguous powers that would lead to abuses of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The act prevents accessing student records without the student’s written permission, with exceptions that can be made for emergency and safety reasons.

But the congressional bill would allow access without the student’s knowledge even in times of nonemergency.

“FERPA is the one thing that protects student records from any kind of investigation, and (the bill) is an invitation to strip away student civil liberties,” Ringor said. “There is no reason in nonemergency situations to ignore FERPA.”

In addition to possible abuse of students’ privacy rights, Ringor said racial profiling stemming from the bill is a legitimate fear.