(U-WIRE) BLOOMINGTON, Ind.'Complying with a request to colleges and universities nationwide to aid terrorism investigations, records of about 3,200 Indiana University students were released to federal authorities last week.
Acting in collaboration with university legal counsel, the Office of International Services released the names of all nonimmigrant students who have taken intensive English-as-a-second-language courses during the past five years, according to OIS Associate Dean and Director Kenneth Rogers. Nonimmigrant students are classified as international students attending school in the United States on \F"" or ""J"" visas.
The university responded to a direct FBI request to disclose the information. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act generally requires a subpoena to obtain personal student information such as Social Security numbers, grades and financial aid. But in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. Department of Education declared a state of emergency, affording the sort of circumstances necessary to bypass standard procedure.
While international students are protected by FERPA, certain conditions do allow the release of personal information without consent. Foreign students in the United States, regardless of visa status, are constitutionally protected, Rogers said.
OIS anticipated the possibility of the FBI request and formulated a ""very strict set of procedures"" immediately after the Sept. 11 attack to follow if student records were needed, Rogers said.
""This is all being done very carefully in consultation with university lawyers,"" Rogers said. ""Not one bit of information is being given out without being carefully checked by our lawyers.""
IU is not alone in its decision to release personal information. Several other Indiana institutions of higher learning, including Purdue University and Vincennes University, have also complied. Quaker-affiliated Earlham College denied a request from the FBI's Muncie bureau, claiming the issue restricted civil liberties.
The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officials conducted a preliminary survey this month on campus consequences of the Sept. 11 attack. The study revealed 170 universities have been contacted by at least one law enforcement agency with requests for student information. The majority of those requests, 149, were made by the FBI. The overwhelming majority of requests were made without a subpoena.
