In response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Georgetown University has received at least one request for confidential student information from an agency of the U.S. government, said Assistant Vice President for Communications Julie Green Bataille. She did not know if that request was a blanket request for the records of multiple students or a request for an individual student’s information.
“I do not have this information, and honestly I don’t think I’ll be able to find out [from the University Counsel],” she said.
According to Bataille, the University Counsel is the office dealing with all requests from federal agencies.
Georgetown’s statements come after numerous universities have shared details of requests from federal agencies with their students. According to a recent survey of university registrars, conducted by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, 220 colleges or universities have been contacted by a federal agency asking for student information in connection with Sept. 11.
Harvard University said it had been forced to turn over information about a student in response to a federal subpoena, and a single federal agency had requested the information about a single student. San Diego State University acknowledged that it had turned over information on two Muslim students.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prevents universities from providing identifiable student information to anyone without the student’s consent. Two exceptions to this rule existed, and a third exception was added when President Bush declared a national state of emergency and when Congress passed anti-terrorism bills last month.
According to Lindsey Kozberg, a spokesperson with the Department of Education, the first exception is when a federal agency receives a subpoena for student records. The second situation involves what Kozberg called “The Health and Safety Clause” of FERPA. That clause states that in cases where someone’s health and safety depends on the release of student information a university may release that information without a student’s consent or knowledge.
The Department of Education is responsible for enforcing violations of FERPA. Kozberg said between 40 and 45 schools have called her department seeking advice on whether federal agencies were correct in invoking the health and safety clause when they have requested information.
“Generally, we have been saying it would apply,” she said. This means that universities have been allowed to turn over confidential student information without informing students.
According to Kozberg, the Department of Education would not pursue complaints that FERPA had been violated if the department had counseled a school that the request was valid.
The third exception to FERPA allows the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney Generals, or the President to request a court order for documents. Different than a subpoena, this order must be obtained through a court and does not require the Department of Education’s approval.
Kozberg would not say what method federal agencies were using to gather information or whether or not schools were receiving blanket request for multiple students’ information.
University Registrar John Pierce said individual students could ask the University whether their information had been shared with federal agencies, but only requests coming from individuals about their own files would be answered.
The American Civil Liberties Union said that students likely did not have legal recourse based on FERPA alone. The ACLU said that if students feel their rights have been violated they may be able to link a violation of FERPA to another civil suit, but that a civil suit based upon FERPA alone had not been tested. The Department of Education affirmed this view.
