Plan to track student data causes concern

Educational reform, through the guise of improved educational statistics, has reached the top of the slippery slope of privacy law.

A recent proposal has emerged from the federal government, which considers creating a national database of student information tied to social security numbers. An immediate red flag should be raised when students realize that such an act would be tantamount to creating a federal registry that one is entered in simply by enrolling at a public U.S. college or university.

It should be said that the information gathered by such a database would likely improve the accuracy and effectiveness of educational statistics, which we hope would create educational progress. However, the price we pay for this modicum of benefit cannot make up for the progressive chipping away of civil rights. Is there not another way to catalog statistics without tying them to social security numbers?

We have to look no further than the "rights for security" tradeoff inherent in the Patriot Act to see the danger in such a registry. Yes, this database could be used to check a student's prior records to identify such pertinent information as a rape conviction, but it could also be used, under unfavorable circumstances, to prosecute and discriminate. Our University, without such far-reaching databases, has already run into serious problems with student privacy through misuse of our student ID numbers.

There is legislation on the books that strictly prohibits the compiling and distribution of student information and it seems patently clear why it should not be amended now, or ever.