A Question of Rights

Dartmouth and the other Ivy League schools are upset about a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Ford last August. So upset, in fact, that the Committee of Ivy League Presidents has issued a joint statement calling for a postponement in the effective date of the law which was scheduled for this month.

Entitled "Protection of the Rights of Privacy of Parents and Students," the law is intended to give students the right to view and challenge "all material that is in-corporated into each student's cumulative record folder." Institutions denying students this right would lose their federal funding.

President Kemeny feels that allowing students to view all official records would create problems for the College. He is especially concerned about possible effects on recommendations, because under the law students are permitted to inspect letters of recommendation written on their behalf. That, says the President, "would mean the end of honest letters of recommendation."

Harvard officials take a different approach in opposing the law. They fear that outside agencies, such as prospective employers, would put pressure on students to reveal confidential information contained in their files. Ironically, this would result in exactly what another section of the new legislation was written to combat — the release of a student's file to outside agencies without his consent.

The law was drafted by a member of Senator James Buckley's (R.,N.Y.) staff, introduced on the floor with no hearing, and passed. Apparently even the sponsors now admit that the law lacks specific guidelines and may in some instances have effects opposite to those intended. What the Ivy presidents hope to do in requesting a postponement is to get the law clarified. "The way it's worded now," says President Kemeny, federal officials are "going to have a terrible time writing regulations."