Students and faculty stand by their defense of 
international students

December 3 -- Members of Health Science Students 
for Social Responsibility (HS3R) and other 
students and faculty from the Health Science 
Campus of the University of Southern California 
(USC) sent a letter to USC President Steven Sample 
today, repeating their request that he state 
publicly USC will not turn over "non-directory 
information" on international students to law 
enforcement officials without a court order or 
subpoena.

MIM helped HS3R collect over 170 signatures on an 
earlier letter asking President Sample to "state 
publicly that USC will not violate the 
confidentiality of any of its students' records." 
"This will alleviate foreign students' fears and 
defend and promote the diversity in the USC 
community," the letter concluded. "It will also 
send a courageous message to other universities 
around the country."

MIM has been collecting signatures on similar 
letters at colleges and universities throughout 
the united $tates.(1)

In his response to HS3R's original letter, 
President Sample claimed "[W]e are required by law 
to release certain information about our foreign 
students to governmental authorities when it is 
requested." While technically correct, this 
statement glosses over important distinctions 
about which information can be turned over without 
student consent.

As discussed in HS3R's most letter to President 
Sample, "[t]he Family Educational Rights and 
Privacy Act (FERPA) permits universities to 
disclose ITAL directory information, END which 
includes a student's name, contact information, 
dates of attendance, major field of study, and 
other information which would not generally be 
considered harmful or an invasion of privacy. Much 
of the discussion about preventing alleged abuses 
of student visas has focused on the ability of law 
enforcement agencies to verify enrollment. This 
information has long been available to law 
enforcement agencies; no special request, no 
declaration of an emergency situation, and no new 
legislation was required to obtain it.

"However, even under the much looser guidelines of 
the newly passed USA- PATRIOT act, universities 
are not compelled to turn over ITAL non-directory 
information END without a court order. In fact, 
according to the American Association of 
Collegiate  Registrars and Admissions Officers, 
'Nonconsensual release of private student 
information, unless pursuant to a subpoena or 
court order or otherwise authorized under a 
separate provision of law, could expose 
institutions to significant legal consequences.'

"Non-directory information potentially encompasses 
all information in a student's file not available 
to the public, e.g. grades, course lists, 
participation in student organizations, library 
records, ethnic and religious background. Students 
correctly value the privacy of this non-directory 
information. Complying with blanket requests for 
non-directory information on international 
students contributes to an atmosphere of hatred 
and bigotry and could have serious implications 
for international students, who under the USA-
PATRIOT act can be held without charge for seven 
days on the mere suspicion of terrorist activity."

According to a survey conducted by the American 
Association of Collegiate Registrars and 
Admissions Officers, law enforcement officials 
(mainly the FBI and INS) have asked at least 220 
schools for information in connection with the 
September 11 attacks. They asked for non-directory 
information from 99 of these schools. At 40 
schools, they for information on all international 
students; they asked 16 schools for student 
records on the basis of ethnicity. (2)

Notes: 
1. www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/sept112001/foreignpe
t.p65 
2. www.aacrao.org/transcript/index.cfm?fuseaction=sho
w_view&doc_id=434