STAFF EDITORIAL: Promoting student safety

The same federal law that allows for parental notification also permits schools to release the names of students convicted by the school of "violent" or "non-violent sexual" incidents, the specific crime or crimes committed and the punishment meted out. Now, College Dean Richard Beeman's committee is charged with formulating Penn's new policy on the release of such information. And safety considerations demand that the committee provide the University community with names, crimes and details of punishment. At present, the University releases statistics on the number of student to student crimes infrequently, at best. And the names of students who have been found guilty of physically or sexually assaulting other students have never been released. That secretive attitude has long been entirely unique to America's universities, and with good reason: Awareness is quite simply the most powerful means available to preserve safety. Society at large has long benefited from such information -- America's courts provide no "right to privacy" for convicted criminals. Now, Penn has the opportunity to provide students with the benefits of awareness as well. But it is not enough to tell students who did what. Students also have a right to know how Penn punishes students who have been convicted of rape or other violent crimes. At present, students simply have no guarantee that the University will clarify which punishments are assigned to which crimes. Still worse, the assumption that Penn punishes all students equally is nothing more than a leap of faith. That is a problem. Because a system meant to serve you cannot do so if it operates entirely behind closed doors. For all of these reasons, we call upon the committee to take several steps to ensure that their recommendations are fair and reflective of student concerns. First, we urge the committee to make an initial public statement detailing the process they will follow and the factors that they will take into consideration. Second, we expect that the committee will create opportunities for community members to give voice to their opinions and concerns. And, unlike the committee's recommendations on parental notification, such consultation should precede -- not follow -- the release of any recommendations. Finally, we encourage the committee to set a reasonable length for its deliberations -- and to pledge both to itself and to the University community that by the period's close, it will have reached a conclusion.