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The Daily OrangePrivate practice
Should private university records be made public?
By David Taube
Posted: 2/5/08, 1:07 AM EST Section: News
The Syracuse Police Department is required to release the names of those who commit crimes in public records, while the Department of Public Safety at Syracuse University can withhold names of students who violate the law.
This creates a double standard between two institutions with similar jobs.
Open records laws, or sunshine laws, require public officials to make public records available under the Freedom of Information Law. Campus officials at SU cite exemption to this law because SU is considered a private institution. But some experts don't know of any court rulings in New York that makes this defense legitimate.
"Unlike a municipal police department, which is subject to open records laws, we have a little more control over what we can and can't and should and shouldn't release because we're a private institution," said Anthony Callisto, Jr., chief of DPS.
SU officials prevent public disclosure of student names in DPS incident reports - including incidents occurring on off-campus property - citing the Family Education Rights and Protection Act of 1974 (FERPA) to protect student privacy. Institutions that do not comply with FERPA face the risk of losing federal funding.
"We're cautious because of the potential for litigation," Callisto said.
But some legal experts said the school should not have the right to employ the act.
"There's really no justification for a private university to withhold records of a crime that would be public record if the crime took place anywhere else but on the campus," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, a non-profit organization founded in 1974 in Arlington, Va.
Georgia state legislation in 2005 specifically addressed this double standard. But first there was a legal battle.
A Georgia Court of Appeals decision ruled in favor of Mercer University, which refused to release police reports to Amanda Farahany, an attorney representing a female student who alleged to have been raped on campus.
This creates a double standard between two institutions with similar jobs.
Open records laws, or sunshine laws, require public officials to make public records available under the Freedom of Information Law. Campus officials at SU cite exemption to this law because SU is considered a private institution. But some experts don't know of any court rulings in New York that makes this defense legitimate.
"Unlike a municipal police department, which is subject to open records laws, we have a little more control over what we can and can't and should and shouldn't release because we're a private institution," said Anthony Callisto, Jr., chief of DPS.
SU officials prevent public disclosure of student names in DPS incident reports - including incidents occurring on off-campus property - citing the Family Education Rights and Protection Act of 1974 (FERPA) to protect student privacy. Institutions that do not comply with FERPA face the risk of losing federal funding.
"We're cautious because of the potential for litigation," Callisto said.
But some legal experts said the school should not have the right to employ the act.
"There's really no justification for a private university to withhold records of a crime that would be public record if the crime took place anywhere else but on the campus," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, a non-profit organization founded in 1974 in Arlington, Va.
Georgia state legislation in 2005 specifically addressed this double standard. But first there was a legal battle.
A Georgia Court of Appeals decision ruled in favor of Mercer University, which refused to release police reports to Amanda Farahany, an attorney representing a female student who alleged to have been raped on campus.
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