FBI able to probe foreign students

In the wake of escalating international tension, the privacy of Penn's foreign students and professors could be compromised in the name of homeland security. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been asking colleges and universities since September for personal information about foreign students and faculty as it attempts to determine whether terrorism has permeated academia. And some senators have expressed concern over the legality of such requests. University President Judith Rodin expressed concern as well about the FBI's probing into students' and faculty's records. "I feel it is a slippery slope," Rodin said. "We and many other universities indicated... our concern about this." Almost 600,000 international students study in the United States, according to the International Institute of Education -- and under the Patriot Act, government agencies have unobstructed access to these students' personal information. The FBI is asking academic institutions for names, addresses, telephone numbers, citizenship information, places of birth and contact information of foreign teachers and students. According to the FBI, this information could be instrumental in determining if any foreign students and teachers are associated with terrorist groups. Rodin said that the University will comply with the FBI's request to the extent that it will not violate students' privacy. "We will respond on a person by person basis... [and] make sure that to the extent possible by national law, we protect the privacy of our students." Political Science Professor Rogers Smith said he believes the practice of requesting this type of information from colleges is worrisome but legal. "This is part of a pattern of heightened surveillance that I understand but find disturbing," he said. "It is nonetheless true that it does not exceed the legal authority of the government to make these requests." Smith believes that this new procedure is somewhat necessary but hopes that the FBI will be prudent in requesting and using the information. "It is most important to make sure that the information gathering process, which to some degree is necessary, is conducted with appropriate congressional oversight to make sure that there is no racial profiling and that the information is used responsibly," he said. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is similarly requesting information about universities' foreign students to compile a database in order to track them. Prior to the Patriot Act, which was passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act mandated that schools were required to provide only the information that is found in the school directory. After the FBI started requesting information last September, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers issued a statement saying that a subpoena must accompany such requests. Additionally, politicians as well as the U.S. Department of Education have expressed opposition to this practice. Officials at the Department of Education agree that a subpoena is required for certain information requests. And according to The Washington Post, Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts in December sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft explaining their reservations. The two claimed that the "legality of this request is not so clear." The Patriot Act "requires both a court order and a showing that the request is specifically tailored to a terrorism investigation," Leahy and Kennedy continued in the document. "The FBI request does not appear to fulfill either of these requirements."