The USA PATRIOT Act: Are You Ready for the Call?
 
June 5, 2002
 

"Hello, you have reached the office of Dean Jones, please leave a message at the tone.  BEEP."

"Dean Jones, this is Ms. Jeffers, the librarian.  There are FBI agents here and they want to search all of our records to see who checked out what books and when.  They want me to turn over the records immediately.  They also told me that once the FBI has the records I should not inform our students and faculty that we gave the government information about them.  Could you give me a call to let me know what I should do?"

"By the way, I overheard one of the agents talking, you should expect a call from Ms. Clark over in student records fairly soon."

For Dean Jones, this is not exactly what he wants to hear right after lunch.  With the recent passage of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, better known as the USA PATRIOT Act, it is a call Dean Jones and every other college administrator across the country should be ready to take. 

Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Congress quickly passed, and the President signed into law, the USA PATRIOT Act.  The Act amends and expands a wide range of existing laws in an effort to give the government new and broad powers to investigate and root out terrorism.  While scholars, the public and even many members of Congress do not quite fully understand how the Act has changed the relationship between powers of government and the privacy rights of institutions and individuals, those on the new front lines - including colleges and universities - must quickly develop action plans to deal with this new dynamic.

At a minimum, colleges and universities, and any institution likely to face requests for information under the Act, should:

• make sure front line workers (e.g. librarians, computer network personnel, registrar's office personnel, etc.) understand how to respond to formal and informal requests for information from the government
• establish a limited group of "point people" to be contacted when requests come in to ensure consistent policies are followed and make clear to all involved who those point people are
• establish who is responsible for making decisions when time-sensitive questions arise regarding what the institution is required to produce
• establish a review body to examine the institution's responses to ensure the institution is both fully and consistently complying with the law and with its core values

Beyond simply assessing how to react to government inquiries, colleges and universities must consider what impact the Act will have on intellectual freedom and the free and open debate of controversial topics.  Many civil libertarians fear that the Act will harm such discussions.  Those who voice or explore unpopular or controversial ideas might be subjected to invasion of privacy by the government or even worse consequences from the public at large.  Fear of retribution for examining intellectual thought can stifle academic exploration of critical areas.

Colleges and universities must weigh that impact against the noble goals the Act was meant to further.  What conclusions each institution comes to will guide whether that college or university should consider changing the way records are kept and how they might alter their operations to further protect the privacy rights of their students and staff.

For additional information,  please contact Michael Volin at 888-688-8500, or by e-mail at mvolin@hklaw.com.