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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1977)
Students now can restrict records By RICHARD SEVEN Of the Emerald Under the Buckley Amend ment, University students now have the right to restrict some or all of their directory records such as phone numbers, addresses and academic records. However, students must file their requests when they pay registration fees this fall or forego the right until the following school year. The Buckley Amendment, named after its founder, New York Sen. William Buckley, was passed in 1974 to ensure against gov ernmental invasions of privacy. However, according to Bob Bowlin, dean of students, it wasn't until just last year that most of the interpretive problems inherent in the amendment could be worked out. "Since the law took effect in 1975 the federal government has been busy writing its regulations,” explains Bowlin. “This caught uni versities in a state of terrible con fusion across the nation trying to comply with how they thought the law should be interpreted. It was a real topsy-turvy situation with everyone doing different things to comply. Finally, in 1976, the fed eral government .came out with standard regulations for all uni versities to follow.” Bowlin encourages students who feel they have legitimate reasons to take advantage of their options under the law. He also warns, however, that students should be aware of the possible consequences of requesting total privacy of their records. “If someone were to call the University seeking a student who had asked for blanket secrecy, well, we couldn’t even respond that there was such a person,” says Bowlin. “This means the stu dent could be overlooked by a po tential employer. We want stu dents to weigh the consequences and not make whimsical re quests.” According to Don Chalmers, di rector of the Office of Student Ad vocacy (OSA), the University's compliance with the Buckley Amendment is better than in the past, but it still has a way to go. “There’s been a step forward with Bowlin, but the compliance has not been good enough," says Chalmers. “It’s a matter of the University saying they’re not wil ling to comply with Buckley for the second straight year. “Last year, when Gerry Bogen was here, the administration said no, we must force the students to leave at least five of the eleven elements of their directory records public,” says Chalmers. “With Bogen, it was a kind of philosophi cal resistance. “This year it’s more of a finan cial resistance with the University lumping the eleven elements into four categories,” continues Chal mers. “For example, if I wanted to. withhold my class standing from public access I would also have to hold out my number of credits also. This is dearly in violation with Buckley." The four groupings are: 1) local address and phone number, 2) permanent address, 3) class, major, degrees/certificates a > warded, dates of attendance, number of credit hours and par ticipation in officially recognized activities and 4) name. Bowlin says these features must be lumped together into these categories because it is beyond the University's capadty to deal with each individual ele ment for each student due to heavy finandal and administrative costs. Trying to meet the complex ities of the Buckley Amendment is a real nightmare,” says Bowlin. "There’s a delicate balance bet First there was Bill Baker’s. And for 25 years you have known us for the very best in traditional men’s wear. Now, we are STEVEN J. With an incomparable collection of classic stylings for men . . . and now for women: At STEVEN J, you will discover we have added some new names to our own new name. Superb classic labels, designer fashions and the casual sportswear you so often look for but can’t find. Until now. Now, we are STEVEN J ... for the timeless good looks you wear first. f rom the STEVEN J campus collection: “Camelaire” sweater by Lord Jeff. 100®/* cotton shirt by Cesarani Ltd. Harris casual pants. For her: Gant durable press gingham shirt. Izod all wool sweater. Faded blue denim gauchos from Pentimento. FREE DRAWING ON CAMPUS 881 E. 13th Avenue formerly Bill Baker’s Phone 342-5734 Open Daily 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. DOWNTOWN 941 Oak Street across from the Overpark Phone 485-6022 Open Daily 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traditional Apparel for Men & Women Come to our newly remodeled campus store and sign up for our free drawing. We will be giving away dozens of prizes from our new Fall and Winter collection for men and women. Use your VISA or MASTER CHARGE. ween acting in good faith to the student and transfering great amounts of money from other im portant activities. There are many, many different rosters and lists that each student’s name appears on. Some aren't even com puterized. It’s quite a job. “Also,'' continues Bowlin, "our computer data programs are out dated and can’t handle all the re quests. I think last year 57 stu dents requested secrecy and we weren't able tc fully meet their re quests.’’ Chalmers, while admitting there will be a heavy cost, says full and individual compliance with the Buckley Amendment is not only possible, but necessary. “I talked to the computing peo ple and they said they can accom plish a more comprehensive sys tem — allowing separate items to be withheld instead of choosing among the four categories — if they can shift the funds to it,'' says Chalmers. "They say it could run up to $10,000 or more, but we must ask what a student's privacy is worth.” The penalty for not totally com plying with the Buckley Act is total withdrawal of federal funds, which amounts to about $16 million. Chalmers says the OSA is print ing numerous brochures on student's rights, including the Buckley Amendment, to be distri buted this fall. The option is offered at fail term registration only. The student’s name can be waived from all list ings on campus. Bowlin says a special note to students wiH be in stalled in the time schedule this fall, directing them to more perti nent information on the Buckley Amendment. Lab offers talking help The strained sounds of stu dents stammering in 13 lan guages characterizes only one lo cation on campus, the University Language Lab , located in the basement of Friendly Hall. The lab offers students, faculty and staff cassette tapes to prac tice speaking and listening skills in foreign languages. The lab, with 60 individual lis tening stations, has been operat ing for three years with its cassette players and recording systems. Thirty of these listening stations also include "audio-comparators" which enable language students to record their own voice and compare pronunciation with the lab recording. The remaining thirty listening stations can be used for individual listening or group listening. The lab is available for language clas ses as well as foreign film and lit erature classes. The cassette library and lan guage lab includes recordings in 12 foreign languages: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Chinese and Japanese. Besides serving foreign lan guage study, the language lab also offers recordings to compli ment study in three areas of ling uistics: English as a second lan guage, American English dialects, and phonetics. The lab is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p m. Saturday, and dosed Sun days.
