Tenn. public colleges must release names of students punished for sexual or violent offenses

Student Press Law Center ^ | 7.7.03 | Student Press Law Center

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TENNESSEE — Gov. Phil Bredesen signed a bill in May that will require the state's public universities and colleges to make sex and violent crime information available.

Under the amendment to the Tennessee open-records law, sponsored by Rep. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, and Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, public schools must release the names of students who are disciplined for committing a violent crime or sex offense, along with the sanction imposed on them. This information used to be considered student education records, which are exempt from disclosure under the state law.

The law now goes a step beyond federal law by taking advantage of a provision in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which states that universities and colleges may release the names of perpetrators of certain crimes.

Under FERPA, a school can lose its federal funding if it has a policy or practice of permitting the release of students' "education records" without receiving consent. FERPA, also known as the Buckley Amendment, was amended in 1998 to allow, but not require, the release of the outcome of disciplinary proceedings where a student is found responsible for behavior that would constitute a crime of violence or nonforcible sex offense. Now public schools in Tennessee will have to release the information.

"Prior to these changes, state law had continued to restrict the disclosure of this type of student disciplinary information at state schools," according to S. Daniel Carter, senior vice president of Security on Campus, a Pennsylvania-based advocacy organization. Private schools had been able to release the information as FERPA permits and will still be able to disclose it, but it is not mandatory. Private schools are not required to comply with the state open-records law.

Carter said it has not yet been determined whether the legislation, which goes into effect on August 10, will require disclosure of past student records. Carter said most likely, records will not be disclosed that are dated before FERPA was amended in 1998.

One of the bill's sponsors plans to submit a query to the state attorney general requesting clarification on how far back the reporting requirements will reach, according to Carter.

The law also requires that parents of a student under 21 must be informed if the student is found responsible for violating a federal, state, local or school regulation governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance.