Electronic privacy the hot topic at U. Council meeting

A proposed policy on e-mail privacy would give students and faculty greater protection. At its sparsely attended monthly meeting yesterday, University Council debated a proposed policy for electronic privacy, which could have far-reaching implications for students and staff. Physiology Professor Martin Pring, who chairs Council's Committee on Communications, headed the effort to create the electronic privacy policy, which outlines specific privacy rights and procedures for faculty, staff and students. Lacking a quorum, Council could not vote on the issue. After debating e-mail privacy, it asked Pring and his committee to modify the proposal and return next month. Right now, faculty and staff members have "absolutely no protection whatsoever" over their personal Penn e-mail accounts, Pring said, adding that students cannot be sure of what protections they have because there are not yet any legal precedents to offer a guide. Under the policy that Pringle proposed, the school could only access student and staff accounts under specific circumstances. But the University ultimately will have the right to access this information without consent. The University currently has no specific policy controlling electronic privacy, meaning that it has the theoretical legal authority to access electronic information at any time. Student e-mail accounts are not generally monitored, the policy noted, but the University "reserves the right to do so as necessary." The access and disclosure of student e-mail accounts under the proposal would have to be approved by a student's school dean or several other University offices. For faculty members, the University would "whenever possible? resolve any doubts about the need to access a University computer or other systems in favor of a faculty member's privacy interests." And for staff members, University officials would be allowed to access employees' electronic data in situations "in which it is necessary if the ordinary business of the University is to proceed" or when a supervisor suspects that University resources are being improperly used. Student representatives of the Undergraduate Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voiced concerns at the meeting that the proposed policy would protect students less than faculty members. Kyle Farley, a vice chairman of GAPSA and a member of Council, asked Pring what type of protection would be afforded to graduate students who also serve as teaching assistants. "When graduate students are acting as teaching assistants? they will be acting as employees," Pring said, adding that the same would be true for students who work part-time in University offices. Associate General Counsel Robert Terrell said students who fall into those two categories will not necessarily be guaranteed the higher level of protection since each situation would be individually assessed. In response to a question about students' e-mail being read without their knowledge, Terrell pointed out that very few University officials have the authority to view students' e-mail. Steering Committee Chairman Larry Gross, a Communications professor, said he was concerned that the proposed policy relied heavily on the contents of other University policies without explicitly stating them. With only about 25 of its 92 members present yesterday, Council did not have the quorum required for votes and was unable to vote on the proposed policy. However, because so many questions were raised at the meeting regarding the details of the proposal, the body informally recommended that the issue be modified and brought back for discussion at Council's next meeting. In its other major business yesterday, Council heard a report on the results of a survey conducted last semester of about 1,000 students with meal plans. Dining Services Managing Director Peg Lacey said the survey showed that the areas students are concerned most about include food taste and variety, and the cleanliness of dining facilities. In addition, a majority of students surveyed said dinner hours should be extended past 8 p.m., with the largest number of those students preferring a 9 p.m. closing. In response, Lacey said, the Hill House dining facility will now remain open until 9 p.m. on weekdays.