U. debates revealing student offender names

A University committee is currently discussing whether Penn should release the names of students who have been found responsible by the Office of Student Conduct of committing violent crimes or non-forcible sexual offenses. Chaired by College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman, the committee -- composed of administrators, students, faculty and staff -- began discussing the issue last year, but adjourned without making a final decision. The committee plans to make a recommendation by early spring. Currently, student disciplinary hearings that go on in front of the Office of Student Conduct are kept entirely confidential. But Congress passed legislation in 1998 that allows schools to release the names of student offenders, as well as the crime they committed and the sanctions imposed against them. That law also allowed schools to notify parents of potential student alcohol abuse problems. Until then, schools were barred by federal law from releasing any student disciplinary information. Beeman's committee recommended last fall that the University notify parents of students who commit "frequent" or "serious" alcohol-related incidents. The reasoning for that decision was that it protected student health. The committee must now decide whether releasing names of student offenders would benefit campus health and safety without posing an undue danger to student privacy. According to Beeman, the committee did not pursue the issue further last year because its members wanted to get more information about violent crimes and sexual assaults from the U.S. Department of Education. Now the committee is soliciting input from the University community before making a formal recommendation to University President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi. According to Beeman and OSC Director Michele Goldfarb, universities around the nation have been discussing whether they need to revise their policies regarding parental notification and disclosure. And while the committee will have to discuss whether the benefits of such disclosure will outweigh the consequences, Goldfarb said that such disclosures may actually be counterproductive, as victims often report their crimes knowing that proceedings will be kept confidential and may be reluctant to do so otherwise. "I think it actually may have on some level the opposite effect... making students who are are victimized less willing to come forward," Goldfarb said. She added that for the OSC, "the value of confidentiality weighs very heavily." Beeman also noted that the University had an obligation to protect students' privacy and that the judicial system at Penn should not be considered equivalent to a government judicial system, where nearly all proceedings are made public. "We do have an obligation -- an important obligation -- to protect the privacy of our students," he said.

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