UA approves release of student offender info

The Undergraduate Assembly managed to kill two birds with one stone on Sunday night, resolving debate on two ongoing issues -- releasing the names of student offenders and reallocating its University Council seats. The UA issued a recommendation on how the University should implement recent changes to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which now allows for the release of information about students found to have committed violent crimes or non-forcible sexual offenses. The UA also relinquished three of its 15 seats on University Council to other student organizations. Both issues had been the topic of discussion at UA meetings throughout the semester. Due to the extensive debate about the release of offenders' names, the UA decided to release two statements regarding FERPA -- one majority statement and one minority statement. The majority statement was supported by 16 out of 28 UA members present, while the minority opinion was supported by 12 members. The majority statement -- which becomes the official UA statement -- recommended that several key pieces of information be released under FERPA. The UA advocates that Penn release the type and nature of the violations, how the violations were resolved by the Office of Student Conduct and the approximate location and time of the violations. The body chose not to recommend the release of student names. The UA's recommendation will be given to a committee led by College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman, which is currently investigating whether Penn should release information regarding student perpetrators. The majority statement stipulated that such information be released annually. UA member James Koo said it was important to find a balance between privacy and the Penn community's right to know about student offenders. "The main point... is that we want a balance of privacy for the student offenders and also safety for the Penn community," Koo said. The majority statement also included a request that the OSC maintain a Web site with hypothetical crimes and a range of typical punishments for these crimes. The UA minority statement on FERPA stated that the release of any information about student offenders would not increase the effectiveness or openness of OSC proceedings, nor would it significantly reduce campus crime. UA member Jed Gross favored less detailed and less frequent release of information related to student crimes than did the UA majority. "I think some of the objectives that members of the UA would like to accomplish with this proposal can be achieved through less intrusive means," he said. The Penn chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union agreed with the minority statement released by the UA. "The ACLU believes that this a privacy and also a justice issue, which are two ingrained American values which the ACLU is particularly interested in preserving," the Penn ACLU said in a statement. The UA also decided last night to reallocate some of its University Council seats in response to the Latino Coalition's recent request for its own seat. The Latino Coalition currently lacks representation on Council, due to its withdrawal from the United Minorities Council. The UA decided that three of its Council seats will be available for other student groups, which must apply to the Nominations and Elections Committee to get the seats. The NEC will then select which groups should get the seats. The UA must approve the NEC-appointed groups. The seats are temporary, and each group must apply or reapply yearly in order to hold the Council seat. "I think [revising UA bylaws to reallocate Council seats] was a good step forward for the UA to make an attempt at representing constituencies on campus," UA Vice-Chair Malhar Saraiya said. The UA also gave up a fourth Council seat for the chair of the NEC. However, while UA members supported opening the three seats for other student organizations, the Latino Coalition was not as enthusiastic, saying that the new rules won't ensure the representation of Latino students on the Council. "Basically, the bylaws don't do anything to ensure the representation of Latino students on campus. It's really disappointing that the UA passed these bylaws," Latino Coalition spokesman Randy Quezada said.