WASHINGTON
One day before the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., plans to introduce legislation today to encourage college faculty and administrators who spot troubled students to share their concerns and the students' records with medical professionals.
In a Senate floor speech, Webb said that "misinterpretation of state and federal privacy laws" by school officials was "a key resounding theme" of several reviews of the Tech shootings.
The reviews, including a panel appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, generally concluded that worries that they might violate federal privacy laws persuaded Tech officials to remain silent about their concerns that student Seung-Hui Cho was a danger to himself or others.
Cho shot and killed 32 students and school employees in a Tech dormitory and classroom building, then committed suicide as authorities moved in. Months earlier, instructors had identified Cho as troubled, but "the university did not effectively intervene," Kaine's panel said.
Webb said his bill would add a "safe harbor" provision to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act so that school officials would be shielded from damage claims for releasing private information about a student "in a good faith belief" that disclosure is needed to protect the student or the public.
The bill also would clarify that FERPA permits universities to share student information with physicians who also are treating the student involved, Webb said.
"It is important for school officials to use their best professional judgment in deciding when to disclose or not disclose information - without fear of violating federal educational privacy laws," he added.
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com
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Chess & Knutson
Something needs to be done so what do you suggest?
Too much room for abuse
This legislation will have damaging consequences. Now, any student(s) or teacher(s) will have the power to damage the reputation of students they do not like, or those who may not agree with them, or who are just a little bit different. It will also have a chilling effect on potential playwrights' or authors' freedom of expression by making them worry that their papers, plays, and essays will be misinterpreted and result in them being labeled mentally unstable. I believe a challenge to this law in court might prove that it violates the first amendment.
How close we are...
To the slippery slope of losing our privacy, all towards the common good. I understand the reasoning but it becomes to easy to take it just a bit further, then a bit further, then a bit further. It would be foolish to think that those notifications to medical authorities wouldn't make it to other government agencies, then the media. As a result, everyone is fearing who is reporting what.