Safety outranks privacy, task force says

By Susan Simpson

Published: January 18, 2008

Since last year's deadly shootings at Virginia Tech, college leaders have weighed concerns for public safety against rights to student privacy.

But Oklahoma's Campus Life and Safety and Security task force says federal privacy laws don't prohibit disclosure of student information if there's reason to suspect a student poses a threat to himself or others.

Colleges and CareerTech campuses are advised to adopt open-door or no-fault-in-reporting policies to encourage people to report incidents or observations that seem unusual.

"If you see a criminal act, you call the police,” said Joe Harroz, general counsel for the University of Oklahoma and a member of the task force. "But what happens on a lot of college campuses is that people see some behavior that seems out of ordinary or of concern to them but isn't a criminal act, so they don't know what to do.”

The task force also recommends that each campus establish a threat-assessment task force to investigate the reports and have access to student academic and medical records.

At OU, students, staff and faculty members can anonymously report concerns to a task force. The group includes the heads of student affairs, legal counsel and counseling, vice presidents and the campus police chief.

"We try and maintain a balance of protection of student information with the safety and security of campus and the rights of persons with mental illness to be on campus,” Harroz said.

Gov. Brad Henry formed the Campus Life and Safety and Security task force in April after a Virginia Tech shooter killed 32 people. The group announced last week that Oklahoma college and CareerTech campuses need to boost spending on campus safety from $24.7 million to $40 million to improve emergency response systems and to hire more counselors.

Comments