Spring Break
Senate bill deals with 'dangerous' students
Amendment mandates new guidelines on information sharing
Issue date: 11/8/07
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Hopkins officials are welcoming a newly approved congressional amendment that would provide clearer guidelines for identifying "dangerous" students.
The Senate approved the Brown-Webb amendment in October, in response to last spring's shootings at Virginia Tech.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jim Webb (D-Va.), will push the Department of Education to update the original guidelines for colleges, which were written in 2002 in conjunction with the Secret Service.
"Clearly, after the situation that happened in Virginia last April, it is apparent that there is some confusion across the country as to what is permissible to deal with such situations," said Hopkins spokesman Dennis O'Shea.
"Some clarification would be helpful," he said.
William Conley, dean of Enrollment and Academic Services, also welcomes the clarification.
"We're getting together independent of this to find what are our thresholds," Conley said. "We're going to need to get guidelines."
Bethany Lesser, Brown's press secretary, said that the Senator decided to spearhead the drive to add the Brown-Webb amendment to the appropriations bill after the school shootings at SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, Ohio. Following the advice of administrators that they need guidelines, Brown worked with the Webb office, which is concerned about the issue after the Virginia Tech shootings, to get the amendment accepted.
The goal was to "make sure that schools would have the information needed to deal with campus security," Lesser said.
Educational rights are not without controversy, however. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), an organization that takes on cases of alleged infringements on student freedom, points to a number of recent cases that deal with educational rights and conflict between students and college and university administrations.
"We believe it is imperative that colleges remain steadfast in their commitment to free expression in the course of determining whether particular students are 'dangerous,'" said Will Creeley, senior program officer for FIRE, while refusing to comment on legislation currently moving through Congress.
The Senate approved the Brown-Webb amendment in October, in response to last spring's shootings at Virginia Tech.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jim Webb (D-Va.), will push the Department of Education to update the original guidelines for colleges, which were written in 2002 in conjunction with the Secret Service.
"Clearly, after the situation that happened in Virginia last April, it is apparent that there is some confusion across the country as to what is permissible to deal with such situations," said Hopkins spokesman Dennis O'Shea.
"Some clarification would be helpful," he said.
William Conley, dean of Enrollment and Academic Services, also welcomes the clarification.
"We're getting together independent of this to find what are our thresholds," Conley said. "We're going to need to get guidelines."
Bethany Lesser, Brown's press secretary, said that the Senator decided to spearhead the drive to add the Brown-Webb amendment to the appropriations bill after the school shootings at SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, Ohio. Following the advice of administrators that they need guidelines, Brown worked with the Webb office, which is concerned about the issue after the Virginia Tech shootings, to get the amendment accepted.
The goal was to "make sure that schools would have the information needed to deal with campus security," Lesser said.
Educational rights are not without controversy, however. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), an organization that takes on cases of alleged infringements on student freedom, points to a number of recent cases that deal with educational rights and conflict between students and college and university administrations.
"We believe it is imperative that colleges remain steadfast in their commitment to free expression in the course of determining whether particular students are 'dangerous,'" said Will Creeley, senior program officer for FIRE, while refusing to comment on legislation currently moving through Congress.
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