Regents haven’t heard the end of privacy issue

Jennifer Knight

Monday, July 8, 2002 | 10:33 a.m.

A proposed state bill would ban Nevada's universities and community colleges from profiting from private student and alumni information -- an issue advocates say has drawn interest from several legislators.

"You're going to see possibly a number of legislators tackle this issue," said Kendall Stagg, the Northern Nevada coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's obvious that the university system did not do enough (to protect student rights). They protected their own interests instead."

Earlier this year two universities and one community college were providing student and alumni names, addresses and phone numbers to credit card companies in exchange for a share of the profits.

The Board of Regents voted in March to require institutions to more prominently display information in class catalogs and schedules about the practice, but did not ban it altogether.

Stagg said the ACLU along with several legislators felt the policy did not go far enough.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, and Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, were the first to talk about penning legislation to stop the university system from publicly releasing private student information, but Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Reno, was the first to request a bill.

Wording on the bill draft states that it would "prohibit the sale of names of students and alumni by Board of Regents for commercial purposes."

Parnell could not immediately be reached for comment on what other details the bill will contain. But the language is in keeping with what ACLU members wanted from regents in the beginning -- a wholesale ban on the practice, with an option for students to be included on the commercial lists only when they asked to be included.

"We have always said we want an opt-in system with clear guidelines about how this information should be used," Stagg said.

Board of Regents Chairman Doug Seastrand said he welcomed debate about the issue. He said regents did not implement stricter policies because students could have been excluded from having their names also given to scholarship committees, national honor societies and health insurance companies.

"The policy is much more protective of students than it was," Seastrand said. "I think we had to strike a compromise so that students were not excluded from all of the good things."

Townsend said he and Leslie have been working with Chancellor Jane Nichols of the University and Community College System of Nevada to sculpt a workable policy that could circumvent the legislative process.

Nichols was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.