FBI makes second investigative visit to UNLV

Jennifer Knight

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

FBI agents met with University of Nevada, Las Vegas, officials this week as part of the ongoing investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

About 230 colleges across the nation have provided to federal and local authorities investigating last month's terrorist attacks information on foreign students attending the respective schools, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

In their second visit to the campus since the attacks, agents this week interviewed UNLV officials at the International Student Services, who maintain records of foreign students. FBI agents also visited the campus police department a week after the attacks, said UNLV police chief Jose Elique.

"It is not surprising to me that the FBI is making all sorts of inquiries," Elique said. "But we have no direct information that anyone associated with these horrendous crimes is employed or is in the student body. The (university) police have had no contact with any of the suspects or terrorists whose names have come to light recently, including those who have alleged to have been in the Las Vegas area."

School officials would not say whether the FBI requested student records. ISS maintains the records of all foreign students attending UNLV on visas. UNLV officials say 27 students from Middle Eastern nations are attending the school -- five from Pakistan, three from Iran and 19 from Israel.

"Certainly, it is clear that institutions have decided to err on the side of cooperating," said Barmak Nassirian, an official for the AACRAO. "It is important for all of us to remember how we all felt on Wednesday the 12th, not only in sadness but in uncertainty. Given the nature of the attacks and the possibility of threats, one can hardly blame institutions from trying to be helpful in a holistic way."

The release of such information prompts concern over potential abuses of the 1993 Family Educational Right to Privacy Act, or Buckley Amendment. According to the law, institutions are prohibited from releasing students' financial records, confidential letters, application materials or other specifically personal information unless the student signs a waiver allowing that information to be released.

Despite privacy restrictions, 99 requests made by law enforcement agencies to institutions throughout the country were for privileged information. Only 12 requests were accompanied by a subpoena and on only 10 occasions did officials ask for the student's permission, according to the report.

In many cases, the report says, university officials did not follow proper procedure, as defined in the Buckley Amendment.

"The problem is, this approaches the idea of guilt by association," said Usama Malik, past president of the Muslim Student Association at UNLV. "Unless they specially have specific subpoenas and proof I would rather have them have evidence. It seems this is a slippery slope."

The report did not specify as to how much of the information released involved students from Arab nations. The survey did, however, reveal that more than 100 foreign Muslims and Arab students have withdrawn from American universities and colleges in the aftermath of the attack. And 160 schools reported violence against students of Middle Eastern descent, although UNLV has received no such complaints.

The AACRAO, according to its website, is a nonprofit, voluntary professional association of more than 9,000 higher education admissions and registration professionals who represent approximately 2,300 institutions in more than 35 countries.