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STUDENT PRIVACY & RIGHTS
Whether it's free speech, sexual orientation, or being tracked with tags, if it concerns a student issue, you'll find it here.




Prof-Ratings Site Irks Academics
"College students might act like they respect professors in class, but you can find out how they really feel in online forums. "Your pillow will need a pillow.""
Full story - Wired
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Sep 29 14:05:43 EDT 2005



Cameras installed in high school without board permission
"Mount Mansfield Union High School officials will discuss whether to continue videotaping students in the hallways and lobbies. The cameras inside the building were installed without the knowledge of the School Board, school officials said Tuesday."
Full story - Burlington Free Press
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Sep 28 08:12:52 EDT 2005



Government plans to set up student database
"University of California at San Diego officials may make private student information available to the U.S. Department of Defense for the purpose of military recruitment should the federal government request it, according to Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson."
Full story - Daily Collegian
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Sep 27 08:32:31 EDT 2005



Singapore students punished for insulting teachers online
"... Five Singapore junior college students, all girls, were ordered to remove comments from their Internet diaries or blogs and they were suspended for three days, The Straits Times said. Their parents were also informed. They wrote objectionable comments on two teachers and a vice-principal."
Full story - NewKerala.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Sep 27 08:21:54 EDT 2005



UO directory restores students' privacy options
"University students concerned about privacy issues can now log onto DuckWeb to update and restrict personal information listed in the University%92s online directory."
Full story - Oregon Daily Emerald
Submitted by Anonymous, Mon Sep 26 08:20:56 EDT 2005



When students open up - a little too much
"... As the Facebook has become a phenomenon at schools across the country -- a virtual bible for campus socializing and networking -- the unintended consequences of overly comprehensive, brutally frank, or mischievous entries are surfacing."
Full story - Boston.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Mon Sep 26 08:08:03 EDT 2005



It's not easy to block calls by Uncle Sam
"Twice last year, Irene Berry got phone calls at work for her son, Will. "They sounded like friends," Berry said. "Only I couldn't figure out why they were calling my office." The Jefferson County mom soon got an answer. One caller was from the Navy, the other from the Marine Corps."
Full story - Denver Post
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 24 10:45:23 EDT 2005



NYCLU Unveils Campaign to Defend Students' Rights (press release)
"The New York Civil Liberties Union launched a major campaign today to arm students with tools to resist unwanted and intrusive recruitment on their school grounds and in their homes."
Full story - ACLU
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 24 10:40:53 EDT 2005



Student newspaper adviser dismissed from invasion of privacy lawsuit
"A lawsuit filed against a high school newspaper adviser after the paper named a student as a victim of Internet bullying has been dismissed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Movie producer Lee Caplin and his wife Gita filed a $100 million lawsuit in April against a number of officials at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School, including Chronicle adviser Kathleen Neumeyer, after derogatory and threatening comments about their son were posted by students at the school on a Web site devoted to his performing career."
Full story - SPLC
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 23 18:09:36 EDT 2005



Education Programs May Have a 'Disposition' for Censorship
"A new trend in campus censorship is emerging: this summer, Washington State University used "dispositions" theory to punish an education student for his political and religious expression. The university relented only after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) became involved."
Full story - FIRE
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 23 08:50:00 EDT 2005



School Expels Girl for Having Gay Parents
"A 14-year-old student was expelled from a Christian school because her parents are lesbians, the school's superintendent said in a letter."
Full story - Newsday
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 23 08:43:16 EDT 2005



Wiley announces formal parental involvement policy
"Madison will involve parents and guardians if their underage students are involved in extreme alcohol or drug incidents, Chancellor John D. Wiley announced today."
Full story - University of Wisconsin - Madison
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Sep 21 16:25:49 EDT 2005



Seventh Circuit Decision Threatens Student Press Freedom
"FIRE is rallying opposition to Hosty v. Carter, a recent Seventh Circuit decision that could be used to severely restrict student speech."
Full story - FIRE
Submitted by Anonymous, Mon Sep 19 19:34:21 EDT 2005



Teen privacy concerns spur suit over psych test
"... Called TeenScreen, this computerized Q&A is designed to diagnose mental illness and identify depression and suicidal tendencies in adolescents. That ambitious agenda, plus a history of giving the test to some students without parental permission, has put TeenScreen in the hot seat."
Full story - IndyStar.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Sun Sep 18 11:33:43 EDT 2005



Mother sues district
"The mother of an 8-year-old boy who was handcuffed and accused of battery and assault on a kindergartner has filed a federal lawsuit against the Washoe County School District and two school officials... The lawsuit alleges that the detention and arrest of her son was without probable cause"
Full story - First Amendment Center
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 17 15:22:13 EDT 2005



Students' Social Security Numbers Posted Online
"Personal information of 21,762 Miami University students, including names, Social Security numbers and grades, was posted on the Internet for the past three years, WLWT-TV in Cincinnati reported."
Full story - TheIndyChannel.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 17 12:09:09 EDT 2005



Faculty Senate unanimously rejects UNR surveillance plans
"A proposed policy on the use of surveillance cameras at the University of Nevada, Reno is going back to the drawing board after it was unanimously rejected by the Faculty Senate."
Full story - KRNV
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 17 00:37:49 EDT 2005



Parents try to limit military recruiters
"Should our public schools turn over private contact information of minor children to military recruiters without explicit written permission from parents or the students themselves?.. A federal education law passed four years ago says the answer is yes... Parents and students can request to have the information withheld. But many are only now becoming aware of the option,"
Full story - heraldnet.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 16 12:46:23 EDT 2005



Juvenile Charged with Attempted Murder Back in School
"A 16 year old charged with three counts of attempted murder is walking the halls of Madison East High School... state law says the right to an education cannot be denied no matter the offense."
Full story -madison.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Sep 14 10:54:42 EDT 2005



IRT: 'we do not tap communications'
"The University has responded to recent allegations that it is tapping student communications, in particular AOL's instant messenger program AIM. Drexel University "does not monitor individual communications," said Ken Blackney, associate vice president of Information Resources and Technology."
Full story - The Triangle Online
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Sep 13 10:36:55 EDT 2005



Be careful what you blog: UNH warns new students about the risks of online journals
"As classes got under way, University of New Hampshire officials want students to know that what they write in their online blog can lead to serious consequences."
Full story - Foster's Online
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 10 09:26:17 EDT 2005



Spotlight: Database Tracks Every Move of Foreign Students, Visitors
"From www.epic.org: September's "Spotlight on Surveillance" scrutinizes the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a Homeland Security program that monitors and tracks students and exchange visitors at all times. SEVIS is also a part of the controversial US-VISIT program."
Full story - EPIC's "Spotlight on Surveillance" Page
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 10 09:21:19 EDT 2005



Opt in or opt out?
"The situation involving military access to student information could change with The Student Privacy Act of 2005, which was introduced in the House in February. It would change the provision to an opt-in clause, ensuring schools release private information to military recruitersonly if families request it, rather than the other way around."
Full story - townonline.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 9 17:37:08 EDT 2005



Mix-up leads to years of lost work
"After years of revision, discussion and more revision by the University Senate, committee leaders thought changes to a student bill of rights were finally ready for approval. Until they discovered the document they were revising isn't technically real. The bill would have formalized students' basic rights of privacy and free speech. But when senators working on the bill decided to check the document's legality with the President's Office in late August, they discovered there were no records to show the original Student Bill of Rights had been approved by the university president."
Fulll story - Diamondback Online
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 9 05:25:56 EDT 2005



Facebook, a fun resource or invasion of privacy?
"Just when everyone thought that stalking was a major taboo in America and surfing the web for countless hours was an activity reserved for computer nerds and sociophobes, thefacebook.com came along and proved that a peeping tom lives inside all of us, easily aided by the Internet."
Full story - Athens News
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Sep 8 11:40:55 EDT 2005



Parents Nationwide Take Action to Protect Children's Privacy From Military Recruiters (press release)
"Parents across the nation are taking action as part of the Leave My Child Alone Coalition's Back-to-School Opt Out month, just as a new film reveals the devastating impact of aggressive military recruitment on American families."
Full story - eMediaWire
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Sep 6 15:47:04 EDT 2005



Report says cameras at Neelin violated privacy
"... The Brandon School Division has accepted a report from Ombudsman Manitoba which says the school violated teacher and student privacy by putting the surreptitious surveillance cameras in place during the summer of 2002."
Full story - Brandon Sun
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Sep 6 13:05:21 EDT 2005



Identity thieves prey on college students
"Identity pirates are preying on college students who are wired more to the Internet than ever before, officials say."
Full story - Myrtle Beach Online
Submitted by Anonymous, Sun Sep 4 19:49:32 EDT 2005



New Tack Against Term Paper Providers
"... Wednesday, a new front was opened in the campaign. Lawyers for a graduate student named Blue Macellari filed a lawsuit in federal court in Illinois alleging that three Web sites that sell term papers made a manuscript she had written available without her permission. She is charging the owner of the sites (as well as the sites' Internet service provider) with copyright infringement, consumer fraud and invasion of privacy, among other things."
Full story - Inside Higher Ed
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 2 09:31:14 EDT 2005



Rhode Island Schools Not Protecting Students' Rights to Withhold Information from Military Recruiters, ACLU Survey Finds
""We are concerned that school districts are not adequately informing students about their privacy rights when it comes to military recruiters," said Steven Brown, Executive Director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. "The ACLU's survey is intended to help schools comply with the law and better protect the privacy of their students.""
Full story - ACLU
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Sep 1 12:54:33 EDT 2005



Student Sues Term-Paper Web Sites for Posting her Paper and Damaging her Reputation
"A graduate student has sued three term-paper Web sites, accusing them of selling one of her terms papers without her permission. The case could be the first of its kind, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The student (Blue Macellari) has sued the operator (Rusty Carroll) of the Web sites, and a company he owns (R2C2 Inc.) alleging violation of copyright, invasion of privacy, and damage to her reputation. She seeks $100,000 in damages."
Full story - aacrao.org
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Sep 1 12:30:51 EDT 2005



Pro Bono Case Addresses Unauthorized Use of Student's Manuscript (press release)
"Today, McDermott Will & Emery filed suit in the Southern District of Illinois on behalf of a graduate student, Ms. Blue Macellari, against the owners of three websites for the alleged unauthorized use of the student's manuscript, and resulting damages."
Full story - PR Newswire
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Sep 1 08:52:52 EDT 2005



UK: You can use the f-word in class (but only five times)
"A secondary school is to allow pupils to swear at teachers - as long as they don't do so more than five times in a lesson. A running tally of how many times the f-word has been used will be kept on the board. If a class goes over the limit, they will be 'spoken' to at the end of the lesson."
Full story - Daily Mail
Submitted by Anonymous, Mon Aug 29 14:00:13 EDT 2005



Judge Calls School Racial Policy Illegal
"CINCINNATI -- A federal judge on Friday ordered a suburban school district to allow a biracial kindergartner to transfer to a new school, rejecting a claim that doing so would upset the district's racial balance."
Full story - Newsday
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Aug 27 08:25:41 EDT 2005



Group Defends Campus Free-Speech Fights
"When part-time college student Jihad Daniel received a campuswide e-mail invitation to see a movie about lesbians, he balked. "These are perversions," he replied to the e-mail's sender, asking that he no longer be sent information about "Connie and Sally" or "Adam and Steve." The next thing he knew, the 68-year-old student at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., was accused of violating the state school's anti-discrimination policy."
Full story - Newsday
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Aug 27 08:24:55 EDT 2005



Recruiting kids: The Pentagon leaves no child behind
"Shuffled inside the voluminous back-to-school packet of forms and information that will go home with every high school student in the coming weeks may be a particularly important yet easily overlooked notice. Information telling parents and guardians how they can advise a high school not to give their child's name and contact information to the Pentagon might be a form letter that parents can sign and return; it might be a brief paragraph in the student handbook. Or it might not be there at all."
Full story - Vermont Guardian
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Aug 26 12:05:29 EDT 2005



Online social sites may threaten students' safety
"When meeting new people, finding out where the party's at or just looking up an address, many University of Nebraska-Lincoln students think sites like Facebook.comare the tools to use. However, university officials are becoming increasingly concerned with security issues relating to those sites and are issuing a "buyers beware" to students."
Full story - Daily Nebraskan
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Aug 26 11:59:36 EDT 2005



Will Colleges Respect Your Child's Rights?
"Hundreds of thousands of families across North America are now preparing their children for college. As parents hustle to buy clothing, repair secondhand cars and otherwise fret about the impending separation, they should consider how their son or daughter's human rights will fare on campus. Their freedom of speech is particularly vulnerable."
Full story - Men's News Daily
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Aug 26 11:58:23 EDT 2005



Audit: UW must do more to protect Social Security numbers
"Some University of Wisconsin campuses routinely violate a federal privacy law in asking students to disclose Social Security numbers without explaining how they will be used, according to an audit released Thursday."
Full story - Duluth News Tribune
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Aug 26 11:57:36 EDT 2005



School board joins bold 'opt-out' movement
"By approving a "Resolution Protecting Family Privacy," the Mendocino Unified School District Board of Trustees has joined a growing nationwide movement to protect high school student privacy by withholding personal data from U.S. military recruiting efforts through an opt-out program."
Full story - Mendocino Beacon
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Aug 25 15:33:51 EDT 2005



University addresses Facebook abuse
"Nicholls administration can take action against a student for stalking, harassment or racial comments about another student on Facebook, according to Judy Daniels, dean of student life."
Full story - The Nicolls Worth
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Aug 25 15:33:12 EDT 2005



Judge Overturns Rapper Boy's Expulsion
"A judge on Wednesday ordered a school district to readmit a 14-year-old student expelled for writing violent, profane rap lyrics, finding that his songs didn't amount to "true threats" against the school and so were protected by the First Amendment."
Full story - Las Vegas Sun
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Aug 24 11:36:09 EDT 2005



Group takes national lead in fighting campus censorship
"An organization inspired by a campus fight over whether "water buffalo" was a racist slur has become the go-to group for college students and professors of all stripes who believe their rights to free speech have been violated."
Full story - FirstAmendmentCenter
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Aug 24 08:00:52 EDT 2005



Mom of Handcuffed Boy Settles Lawsuit
"The city agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman whose 5-year-old son was handcuffed by police after a fight on a school bus."
Full story - Las Vegas Sun
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Aug 16 09:53:26 EDT 2005



Tic Tac Search Of Student Leads to Suit
"The parents of a Taylor Middle School student who was pulled off a school bus and searched after sharing orange Tic Tacs with his friends have filed a civil rights lawsuit claiming unreasonable search and seizure and excessive force... The lawsuit alleges unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force, negligent hiring and supervision, negligence and defamation."
Full story - ABQJournal
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Aug 15 20:21:26 EDT 2005



Pentagon database hits home
"Local reaction to military recruiting is heating up as the U.S. Defense Department and a private marketing firm are creating a database of personal information on students ages 16 to 18 to be used to bolster slumping wartime military recruitment numbers. The marketing firm, BeNow Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., was hired in late June by the Defense Department to analyze student data and profile individuals who meet the age and school requirements for military service."
Full story - Sonoma Index-Tribune
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Aug 9 16:05:26 EDT 2005



Tech Trends: Whamming the spammers
"Life just got a bit harder for spammers trying to reach one coveted audience - college students. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled against an online dating service called White Buffalo Ventures, which had been battling the University of Texas-Austin for the right to send unsolicited E-mail come-ons to UT students."
Full story - USNews.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Aug 9 08:49:50 EDT 2005



S.V. confronts student privacy challenge
"Scotts Valley Unified School District officials are attempting to undo a former administrator%92s policy shift on student confidentiality they say violates state education code. The Scotts Valley school board will vote Tuesday to clarify its position on official district policy to counteract the letter sent to parents last November by then-superintendent Stephen Fiss. In the letter, Fiss wrote that schools would excuse students for non-emergency medical reasons only with parental consent."
Full story - Santa Cruz Sentinel
Submitted by Anonymous, Sun Aug 7 16:36:13 EDT 2005



Howard Co. Schools Implement New Privacy Form
"Some area parents will have more control over how much information school officials can release about their children. WBAL-TV 11 News education reporter Tim Tooten reported Howard County schools will send about 48,000 computer-bubble forms home with students for parents to complete and submit. Tooten said the form affords parents the responsibility to restrict how much personal information the district can share about their children."
Full story - WBAL
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Aug 6 11:58:49 EDT 2005



Smart cards, satellites help track students
"As the wheels on the bus go round and round, Norm Foust is watching. Foust, transportation director for the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township in Indianapolis, has equipped his 120-bus fleet with sensors and Global Positioning System units that follow nearly every move the bus drivers make... The system is one of several new monitoring technologies that are being installed in school districts nationwide for student safety."
Full story - CNet
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Aug 5 11:02:26 EDT 2005



ACLU sues school district over student's freedom of speech
"PITTSBURGH - The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a school district on behalf of a 14-year-old rap music fan who was expelled after he posted lyrics on the Internet in which, according to police, he threatened to shoot up his school and named a potential victim. The ACLU said the songs by Anthony Latour, of Ellwood City, are protected speech, among other reasons, because they were composed at home and not brought to school. The suit says Latour's expulsion in May from the Riverside Beaver County School District violated his parents' right to control his upbringing."
Full story - Observer-Reporter
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Aug 4 09:36:29 EDT 2005



Student's rap lyrics lead to ACLU lawsuit
"Anthony Latour says he just wants to make music, but his rap lyrics have landed him in the center of a lawsuit. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh against Riverside School District on behalf of Latour, 14, of Franklin Township, and his parents, John and Denise Latour."
Full story - Times Online (PA)
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Aug 4 09:28:47 EDT 2005



The Grades That Vanished, and Some Other Threats to Students' Data
"LAST school year, thousands of student records in the Natomas Unified School District in Sacramento disappeared. Two students at Natomas High School, using a stolen password, had gained illegal access to the school's computer network. They raised their grades to A's, then, in an attempt to cover their tracks, unwittingly deleted more than 18,000 records."
Full story - NY Times
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Aug 3 01:51:13 EDT 2005








Other resources on STUDENT PRIVACY & RIGHTS:
  • Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
  • ACLU: Student Rights




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