Senate bill deals with 'dangerous' students
Amendment mandates new guidelines on information sharing
"All too often schools violate the contractual and constitutional rights of their students in a misguided effort to 'protect students.'"
Current Hopkins policy gives deans the authority to inform other parties, including parents and police, of any concerns about a dangerous student that come to the attention of the University.
The one exception to this is if such concerns go through the Counseling Center, which, due to patient privacy, is prevented from releasing any information. However, according to the consent statement students must sign when they go there, the Center reserves the right to release information to the necessary persons and agencies if the student is seen as a potential harm to others or themselves.
"This can include, in cases where it is necessary, contacting the police," said Dennis O'Shea, spokesman for the University.
To deal with campus violence the University's current policy is that the University may suspend individuals who "threaten or disrupts the conduct of University business" until an assessment of the individual is completed. When dealing with circumstances that need intervention, the University may contact government law enforcement agencies.
The Senate approved the amendment to the 2008 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act in October.
If passed, the amendment will force the Department of Education to distribute the updated information to institutions of higher learning within three months after passage. The bill is likely to be included in the appropriations for the Department of Education without much Senate opposition.
A week after the amendment was added to the Department of Education's appropriations bill, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Guitierrez, outlined a brochure of new guidelines on data sharing, including the threat of dangerous students.
Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy (FERPA), students have specific rights when dealing with information that universities have about them, but there are often gray areas. The guidelines from the federal government help in defining the legal boundaries of such rights.
In the guidelines, final disciplinary records may be disclosed if students are alleged to be perpetrators of violent crime or non-forcible sex offence.
It also points out that many colleges and universities have law enforcement units autonomous of the government that may have their own investigative reports and records that are not limited by FERPA. These units have the option of disclosing their information to anyone, even government law enforcement units.
The Department of Education suggests that these records be separate from educational records to protect students' rights.
Current Hopkins policy gives deans the authority to inform other parties, including parents and police, of any concerns about a dangerous student that come to the attention of the University.
The one exception to this is if such concerns go through the Counseling Center, which, due to patient privacy, is prevented from releasing any information. However, according to the consent statement students must sign when they go there, the Center reserves the right to release information to the necessary persons and agencies if the student is seen as a potential harm to others or themselves.
"This can include, in cases where it is necessary, contacting the police," said Dennis O'Shea, spokesman for the University.
To deal with campus violence the University's current policy is that the University may suspend individuals who "threaten or disrupts the conduct of University business" until an assessment of the individual is completed. When dealing with circumstances that need intervention, the University may contact government law enforcement agencies.
The Senate approved the amendment to the 2008 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act in October.
If passed, the amendment will force the Department of Education to distribute the updated information to institutions of higher learning within three months after passage. The bill is likely to be included in the appropriations for the Department of Education without much Senate opposition.
A week after the amendment was added to the Department of Education's appropriations bill, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Guitierrez, outlined a brochure of new guidelines on data sharing, including the threat of dangerous students.
Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy (FERPA), students have specific rights when dealing with information that universities have about them, but there are often gray areas. The guidelines from the federal government help in defining the legal boundaries of such rights.
In the guidelines, final disciplinary records may be disclosed if students are alleged to be perpetrators of violent crime or non-forcible sex offence.
It also points out that many colleges and universities have law enforcement units autonomous of the government that may have their own investigative reports and records that are not limited by FERPA. These units have the option of disclosing their information to anyone, even government law enforcement units.
The Department of Education suggests that these records be separate from educational records to protect students' rights.
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