Police access to student records

Just a quick note on a Washington Post story
from a couple days ago about police access to post-secondary student records
for purposes of checking them against the sex-offender's registry.  This
has me pretty concerned. Normally, this Edjurist does not involve himself in
post-secondary matters, but this one has the potential to be dangerous.



What is the justification for this intrusion of student privacy rights? The sex
offender registry is for persons who have committed statutory rape and child
sex abuse, but, last time I checked, we typically do not consider most college
students minors for the purposes of statutory rape laws. Granted, there may be
an increased risk of regular rape (if the term regular is appropriate), but
that danger comes with any concentration of people, especially college
students.



I do not think the legislators (who passed this bill unanimously) gave proper
consideration to the intrusion onto the student's rights. For the vast
majority, these students have done nothing wrong, and yet we are subjecting
their personal information to searches and potential criminal activity when the
information is stolen or lost (I don't think I need to remind you of all the
problems universities have with information storage (if so see UnivAtty)). Further, what are we
saying to these students as they enter adulthood ... stand against the wall
legs spread and hands above your head? Are we telling them that their
government will regularly search them and all their personal information in the
name of security? Like they say, I guess, there is more to learn in college than
just the books.



Finally, look out K-12. This type of searching of student's personal
information by police is not far off. This unanimous vote by the legislature
should ring alarm bells. Police already walk the halls of the school, how long
before they begin to browse the school's student databases?