Tennessee Attorney General's Opinion Will Unduly Restrict Campus Crime Information


An advisory opinion recently issued by Tennessee's Attorney General will unduly restrict the access of students and the media to information about crime at public colleges and universities.

Last week, Paul Summers, Tennessee's Attorney General issued an opinion, No. 03-139, that public colleges and universities in Tennessee aren't required to disclose the final results of student disciplinary proceedings where a student is found to have broken school rules in connection with an alleged crime of violence. Rather he held that a new law adopted earlier this year, Public Chapter 105, merely allows them to disclose this information, but does not require it. Under these circumstances most schools will likely continue to withhold this information from students and the media denying them information that both Congress and the Tennessee General Assembly pretty clearly intended for them to have access to.

When a college student is accused of a crime they may go through the criminal justice system just like any other citizen, however they may also be diverted into a secret system of justice on campus, or face solely the campus court system. It is often quicker, and easier for victims, or is at least presented as such, and is therefore an appealing option. This is especially true in the case of "sensitive" crimes such as sexual assault or hazing.

The downsides are that the harshest penalty that can be inflicted is expulsion, although it often isn't, and that other students don't know if a potentially dangerous student has been allowed to remain on campus. Congress intended to correct this in 1998 by amending student privacy laws to permit this type of disclosure, fully expecting that once no longer restricted it would become public. Nationally, however, this hasn't been the case. According to the Student Press Law Center fewer than 20% of schools release this type of information.

Other students aren't afforded information that they could use to help themselves make informed decisions about avoiding victimization (rapists for example are frequently allowed to remain on campus, or return after a short suspension without any other students knowing about it), or about how the whole campus court process works. There is no way to know if any type of students, or individual cases are treated differently than others.

Tennessee's public records act contains a blanket exception for student records, as it should. Unfortunately it is so broad that it includes criminal information too, and the new state law was intended to require the release of the records federal law now says states can release. Those records which federal law says can be released were written in as an exception to Tennessee's student records exception, meaning they should be public. Because the language was taken verbatim from the federal law, which is permissive, the AG is holding that it too is permissive rather than mandatory. Security On Campus, Inc. worked with the new law's sponsors and I know this isn't what they had in mind. One of them, Rep. Harry Brooks, has been quoted by the Associated Press as saying that they "were hoping that the language would be written in such a fashion that it becomes a public document."

He is also quoted as calling for a amendment so that "we can accomplish this information flow that is necessary to enhance the safety and protection of people on our campuses." This may certainly be necessary. It is also possible that a court could step in and rule that disclosure is mandatory, although until this somewhat expensive option happens schools will probably keep most of these records private, or release the records only occasionally. We certainly won't know if fairness is being employed, because they may release only when it is favorable to them, or when they have a grudge against the accused student. Only uniform disclosure is truly appropriate.

This situation will eventually be worked out, either in the legislature or the courts, but unfortunately until then students on Tennessee's college and university campuses will probably be denied information about campus crime that they should be entitled to.

Posted: Sun - November 2, 2003 at 07:19 PM      

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