Released: July 07, 2006

‘Orwellian’ college database idea widely assailed

Source: By Lois Romano, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Private colleges yesterday fired a rather noisy shot across the bow of an education proposal aimed at keeping closer tabs on institutions of higher learning through a new national database of student records.

“Is there some reason to reverse three decades of [privacy] policy and go down this Orwellian road?” asked Christopher B. Nelson, the president of St. John’s College, during a conference call with reporters to call attention to a new survey on the subject.

The controversial concept of a national student “unit” tracking system has been floating around for about two years. It was given a boost last month when Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education released a draft report endorsing such a plan.

The idea, proponents say, is not to invade the privacy of students, but to force colleges to be more accountable to the public by revealing such information as accurate enrollment figures and financial aid percentages, as well as graduation, transfer and dropout rates. The data would come from individual students, but their identities would be protected, supporters say.

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