[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 56 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   AMENDMENT TO ADDRESS CAMPUS CRIME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ney). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to rise first to take a moment 
to thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan). Shawn Gallagher, my 
legislative assistant, and I in working on our amendment yesterday that 
we offered to H.R. 6 thanked a number of people that were extremely 
helpful and valuable in this process. We neglected to mention the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan). I wanted to take a moment to 
thank him for his work on the Accuracy in Crime Reporting Act and 
particularly an amendment that I offered and we successfully passed 
that dealt with the releasing or potential releasing of names of those 
who commit violent offenses on campuses.
  At times in this process, we in politics all think we have created 
and have this original, unique idea that is so vitally important to the 
Nation's interest that we forget to share some of the credit. I wanted 
to do that in a public way, because this is a collaborative process. We 
are all in this business of helping and serving the public together. 
You hate to let time go by and not pay a special moment of thanks to 
those that have helped you achieve a significant victory.
  I would like to talk just a moment about the amendment because it is 
very, very important. It has to deal with the Family Educational Rights 
and Privacy Act that was passed in 1974 that basically has allowed 
universities, Federal universities, to withhold the release of names of 
students found by disciplinary proceedings to have committed crimes of 
violence. I believe there should be a balance between one student's 
right of privacy to another student's right to know about a serious 
crime in his or her college community. The Foley amendment to the 
Higher Education Amendments Act of 1998 provides a well-balanced 
solution to the problem. It would remove the Federal protection that 
disciplinary records enjoy and make reporting subject to the State laws 
that apply. Campus law enforcement records, Mr. Speaker, are not 
included as part of a student's educational record and therefore are 
open to public scrutiny. But many colleges and universities have 
learned to circumvent crime reporting requirements by channeling 
felonies and misdemeanors into their confidential disciplinary 
committees which continue to be protected by FERPA.
  According to a number of college newspapers, like the Daily Tar Heel 
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, colleges have been expanding the 
jurisdiction of these secret courts to shield violent crime. While the 
amendment that I offered would not require campus disciplinary hearings 
to be open to the public, it would remove FERPA protection of 
disciplinary records which contain information that personally 
identifies a student or students who have committed or admitted to or 
been found to have committed any violent act which is a crime or a 
violation of institutional policy.
  Why is this important? Because I think parents and community leaders 
and others deserve to know the statistical problems that are being 
experienced on our Nation's campuses. Whether it is date rape, whether 
it is sexual assault or physical violence, these types of incidents 
should not be held under seal. They should be open to the public so 
that parents can make decisions appropriate for their children. As they 
head off to college, which is supposed to be a learning environment, 
they should not be feeling threatened, they should not have to be 
scared being on campuses, and many newspapers around the country have 
in fact editorialized in support of our amendment.
  It did pass yesterday. We hope the Senate will consider the 
amendment. We hope it will be included in the conference report, 
because I think it is vitally important in this day and age that we 
have all the facts about student behavior on campus, that we do our 
best to try and minimize and change the dangers that are involved in 
campuses and that by illuminating some of the statistics and problems 
we may, in fact, be able to change behavior on campuses. As I say, 
colleges by and far the most part have complied and been very 
cooperative in these efforts, but there are some that have chosen to 
seal the records in order not to have a black eye in the community, not 
to have enrollment drop off or not lose alumni support.
  But again in this era of openness and accountability, I think it is 
important that we make certain that all families and other members of 
society have access to this information and then to make appropriate 
judgments accordingly.
  Again I would like to thank my staffer Shawn Gallagher and I would 
like to thank the committee and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Goodling), and, of course, as I mentioned, the gentleman from Tennessee 
(Mr. Duncan) for their leadership on this issue.

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