The University's proposed new judicial charter has sparked debate across campus, specifically regarding the confidentiality provision of the document. The charter currently states that no member of the University community -- including students -- is allowed to discuss any material pertaining to disciplinary cases outside of the proceedings. Provost Stanley Chodorow said at last week's University Council meeting that the provision has been included because the University is legally required by the Buckley Amendment not to release student records. "If a student released a confidential matter about another student, it is not that student who will be sued, but it is the University that is held responsible for that action," Chodorow said. But according to Department of Education spokesperson Jim Bradshaw, the amendment does not prohibit students from discussing their personal records -- and only affects universities. The Buckley Amendment is part of the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that outlines the regulations educational institutions must follow in confidentiality matters. "FERPA does not cover a situation where a college would try to prevent a student from talking about disciplinary proceedings outside of the hearing," Bradshaw said. The Buckley Amendment allows students to view their own educational records, but in the case of a disciplinary hearing with several students, an individual student is only allowed to see the documents that pertain to himself or herself, Bradshaw added. He noted that the Education Department has never cut funds from an educational institution because the school was not in compliance with the Buckley Amendment. "Whenever we receive a complaint and we investigate it, inevitably we're able to work out the problem with the school to our satisfaction," Bradshaw said. Other Ivy League universities have varying policies regarding the confidentiality of disciplinary proceedings. According to Harvard University spokesperson Joe Wrinn, Harvard's policy of not allowing students to discuss disciplinary hearings is due partly to the Buckley Amendment. During disciplinary hearings at Brown University, names of the parties involved are never released, but there is no policy that denies students the right to discuss their own hearings, according to Brown spokesperson Marc Nickel. "There is nothing the university could do to prevent a student from speaking about it if he or she feels so inclined," Nickel said. "From a university perspective, that does not break confidentiality rules." At Columbia University, each college has its own set of conduct rules that include matters of disclosure, Columbia spokesperson Fred Knubel said. In compliance with the Buckley Amendment, Columbia only releases directory information about its students to the public, Knubel said.
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