Student names given to FBI

Correction: Among other errors, this article incorrectly reported the number of students affected by the release of information. Associate Dean of International Services Kenneth Rogers confirmed that only "hundreds of students" were affected. The rest of the 3,200 international students at IU were not. We are continuing our attempts to verify the rest of the information in the article and will make further corrections as warranted.\nComplying with a request to colleges and universities nationwide to aid terrorism investigations, records of about 3,200 IU students were released to federal authorities last week.\nActing 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.\nThe 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.\nWhile international students are protected by FERPA, certain conditions do allow the release of personal information without consent. Foreign students in the U.S., regardless of visa status, are constitutionally protected, Rogers said.\nOIS 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.\n"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."\nIn a letter to faculty last week, IU President Myles Brand said the University is committed to helping the United States in light of the terrorist attacks. He asked all faculty with expertise in important fields to make themselves available to the "… leaders who will shape our nation's response to this attack."\n"As a public institution of higher learning, we can provide valuable background, knowledge and insight …," Brand wrote.\nBrand has told the Bush administration through the Association of American Universities that the weight of this nation's public universities are "available."\nIU 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. \nThe 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.\nMany citizens may view the release of confidential student information as racial profiling, said Scott Palmer, assistant dean of International Programs in the IU School of Law. Yet the issue polarizes citizens and non-citizens, he said.\n"This is not necessarily an issue purely about racial profiling," Palmer said. "What's actually coming about in this context is a distinction on the basis of citizens and noncitizens -- not on basis of race -- that's becoming a new politically charged category in which civil liberties as a battle will be fought. This is not a story of civil liberties as we know it."\nPalmer referenced an Oct. 3 speech delivered by law professor Patrick Baude discussing the role of civil liberties in investigating terrorist attacks. \nBefore the September attacks, Baude said in his speech, media commentators had claimed the U.S. had reached a consensus against racial profiling, and the assault on the World Trade Center reversed the trend. \nBut Baude said he believes no such consensus ever existed.\n"To say that we've now lost some consensus is again borrowing these events to lend support to a preexisting agenda," Baude said. "I have no problem with the agenda, but a lot of what people are talking about now is just the old agenda -- made livelier by these events. I think when we talk about civil liberties and acts of terrorism it's important to distinguish between our general concerns and those arising from recent events."\nRogers maintains few students have opposed the University's decision directly.\n"There really hasn't been a great response (by students)," Rogers said. "This is all prescribed by law. The University has no alternative but to follow the law, and we have determined we shall fully respond to requests for information from law enforcement officers in connection with antiterrorist investigations."\nDonna Dvorak, an instructor and graduate student in the Intensive English Program, said she has not heard of the information's release to the FBI. No students had approached her, she said.\n"I didn't know anything about it," Dvorak said. "I'm sure (students) will be asking. I'll be asking tomorrow"