Student privacy under scrutiny

<b>Shooting sparks national debate</b>

By: Eric Johnson, Senior Writer
Posted: 5/24/07

Congress is wading into the turbulent debate about campus safety in the aftermath of last month&#39;s shootings at Virginia Tech and is considering possible changes to federal laws governing student privacy.

A bill to loosen disclosure restrictions for campuses dealing with at-risk students is already attracting attention in the House, and similar measures are being drafted in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the UNC-system will consider during the next few months whether to back any move to alter long-standing federal policy about the disclosure of student health records.

"In Washington, there&#39;s a lot of attention on this issue," said Kimrey Rhinehardt, UNC-system vice president for federal relations. "I think that certainly now, more than ever, the university is going to be a part of that discussion."

The April 16 shooting of 32 students at Virginia Tech by a classmate with a documented history of mental instability has prompted colleges across the country to reevaluate their security procedures.

It has also drawn national attention to the vague guidelines that govern when and how campuses can respond to threatening or self-destructive behavior by a student.

Federal law prohibits universities from contacting a student&#39;s parents unless the student presents an imminent danger to himself or others, a standard that is open to wide interpretation. In recent years, campuses have been sued for taking preemptive measures against troubled students in some instances and for failing to take preemptive action in others.

As a result, most campus administrators have welcomed the opportunity to review the existing statutes.

"I think there&#39;s enough confusion now that most institutions would tell you that it could hardly get any worse," said Becky Timmons, assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education.

"Institutions may assume that scrutinizing this legislation would lend some greater clarity to the issue," she said. "There are some very legitimate reasons for the laws we have the on books, but they do create grey areas for campuses."

The UNC-system has created a task force that will explore those grey areas, along with a whole host of other safety issues. The group will represent a variety of constituencies, from chancellors and legal counsel to students and staff members.

Only after the task force has weighed in with recommendations - scheduled for sometime in September - will the system consider lobbying for any changes to federal law.

"Because the issues of privacy and disclosure are so delicate, it&#39;s going to take a lot of people thinking about this to come with the right balance," Rhinehardt said.

In announcing the safety task force earlier this month, university officials stressed the need to avoid any hasty reactions.

Noting that UNC campuses are statistically far safer than North Carolina as a whole, System President Erskine Bowles said the task force would proceed cautiously with any recommendations.

"We have to really make sure we think through these issues and don&#39;t just react," Bowles said. "We have to do things that make good common sense."

It is unclear whether the task force will finish its work in time for UNC to weigh in effectively at the federal level. It will depend on how quickly Congress moves to revisit the privacy and disclosure issues.

The state of Virginia has formed its own high-profile commission to study the shooting at Virginia Tech, and Timmons said that might prompt federal lawmakers to take a more deliberative approach.

"I think there is a little bit of a sense of proceeding slowly out of a sense of respect for the Virginia Tech situation," she said.

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Original Source: <a href=http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2007/05/24/StateNational/Student.Privacy.Under.Scrutiny-2907006.shtml>The Daily Tar Heel - May 24, 2007</a>

Sara Hood

2007-07-16

Sara Hood

Kevin Schwartz <kschwartz@unc.edu>

eng

Emergency management comes to UNC

By: Elyse McCoy, Staff Writer
Posted: 7/5/07

The University is in the initial stages of development for the Public Information Emergency Response Communication Management System, or PIER, an Internet-based communication tool used to help relay emergency-related content and messages.

Students, faculty and staff will be alerted in the event of a crime, unexpected weather emergency or other event that requires immediate warning through a secure Web page that will look like a regular UNC-Chapel Hill Web page. Using the PIER system, campus security officials can post key emergency materials; templates of information prepared in advance about certain scenarios; detailed information about how to reach the University&#39;s key constituents, including students, faculty and staff; and background information about the campus, maps and emergency policies and procedures.

PIER also provides the capability to track and respond to questions from key stakeholders or the general public.

Following the Virginia Tech shootings, the University has strengthened its already extensive plans and procedures, but plans for developing a contract with the PIER vendor for the 16-campus UNC system have been in existence since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

UNC-Wilmington and UNC-Charlotte have been the most involved campuses to date, with Wilmington being designated the first campus to begin its PIER-related work and training several months ago.

The PIER system&#39;s clients include the U.S. Coast Guard - which used the system during Hurricane Katrina, the University of Houston, and several major corporations.

UNC-Chapel Hill has just recently begun training a small group of key people most likely to be involved with using PIER as a communication tool in an emergency situation, including those involved in University relations, public safety and information technology departments.

"We have started working on training issues as the spring semester was winding down and will continue over the summer," said Mike McFarland, the director of University communications.

"We believe PIER can help complement resources the University already uses and are developing, such as a siren system and the Rave system to communicate quickly, accurately and effectively with students, faculty, staff and other University-related audiences or the general public," McFarland said. Unlike the PIER system, which is primarily focused around managing information in an emergency, the Rave system is part of a broader effort to extend the campus to mobile phones.

"Rave has much more day-to-day impact on the lives of our students," said Brian Payst, the director of Technology & Systems Support.

"We certainly can, and will if needed, use Rave to send emergency broadcast messages, but it does much, much more than that for us."

The Rave system is used to provide bus arrival times for all the Chapel Hill Transit routes and stops, the ability to read UNC e-mail, information from slice.unc.edu about student events, Blackboard alerts, Rave Guardian (an enhanced personal safety service), group messaging, polls and more on students&#39; mobile phones. The University&#39;s partnership with Rave Wireless also enables the University to offer a steeply discounted cell phone program to students living in residence halls on campus in order to allow access to these services at the lowest possible cost.

The campus Emergency Notification committee has been coordinating efforts to integrate the PIER and Rave systems as much as possible to reduce duplication where it exists.

"We plan to integrate the information coming from PIER into a spot in the UNC mobile phone interface so you can easily check for closings or other important announcements coming from PIER," Payst said.

Payst does not think that the implementation of both the PIER system and the Rave system will be confusing to either students or their parents.

"They do different things, so we do not think it will be all that confusing, and we will work hard to clearly communicate the distinctions where they arise."

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Original Source: <a href=http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2007/07/05/University/Emergency.Management.Comes.To.Unc-2921381.shtml>The Daily Tar Heel - July 05, 2007</a>

Elyse McCoy

The Daily Tar Heel

2007-07-15

Sara Hood

Kevin Schwartz <kschwartz@unc.edu>

eng