Laws7 wording at issue
■The Daily Nebraskan aims
to darify state and federal
records release rules.
BYJOSHFUNK
UNL officials remain at odds
with the campus newspaper at
the prospect of releasing the
names of students found guilty of
crimes of violence or sex offenses
under the Student Code of
Conduct
The language of federal and
state laws governing the release
of disciplinary records is unclear,
but the history of the state
records law shows it was never
intended to conflict with the fed
eral law.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln officials did release sta
tistics Nov. 29 about the number
and nature of offenses on cam
pus this fall, but they remain firm
on keeping students’ names
secret
Tm happy to report any sta
tistics,” Judicial Affairs Director
Rosemary Blum told the
Academic Senate in her annual
report last week. “I just need to
protect the confidentiality of a
student's name.”
The Daily Nebraskan asked
the university to release the
names of those students convict
ed of crimes of violence or sex
offenses under the student code
of conduct and the punishment
assessed.
The newspaper made the
request under Nebraska’s open
records law because 1998
amendments to the federal
Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act allow universities to
release such information.
The sticking point is a provi
sion of the state’s open records
law which says universities do
not have to release a student’s
personal records.
That state provision was
passed in 1979, and it was pat
terned after the federal act, which
became law five years earlier,
according to records of testimony
before the state Legislature.
“There’s no intention to
change federal law, obviously. We
neither could nor are trying to do
anything of that kind,” Alan
Peterson, attorney for the
Coalition of Nebraska Media, told
die Committee on Government,
Military and Veterans Affairs in
1979.
“The idea is that personal
information in records regarding
a student or prospective student,
should remain private, as is
required by federal law, with the
exception of routine directory
information,” he said.
The federal law protects what
it termed a student’s educational
records. In Nebraska, lawmakers
used die term personal records to
protect the same information.
The different language used
by the state and federal govern
ments muddles whether these
records must be released.
After these laws were passed,
many universities across the
nation used the vague language
to conceal campus police and
disciplinary records. Sometimes
serious crimes were hidden from
the campus community and
prospective students, which cre
ated safety risks, the Daily
Nebraskan has said in it
Concerns about the safety of
the University of Nebraska
Lincoln’s campuses prompted
the Daily Nebraskan to request
these records from the Office of
Judicial Affairs.
Within the system there is the
potential for serious crimes to be
prosecuted under the Student
Code of Conduct, yet those
crimes may go unpunished in a
court of law. That could mean the
campus never knows about that
crime, which presents a safety
risk, the newspaper contends.
The Daily Nebraskan’s
request was denied by both the
university and, later, the state
attorney general’s office.
The newspaper is now con
sidering three options to gain
access to these records:
■ Promote an open discus
sion of these issues on campus
and convince the university to
change its policies.
■ File suit against the univer
sity and ask a judge to interpret
die language of die state and fed
eral laws.
■ Lobby the Legislature to
amend its open records law to
reflect the 1998 federal changes.
Recruiting blueprint sought
RESENTS from page 1
“We want to stop the brain
drain of our best and brightest,"
Miller said.
But Nebraska can’t ignore
out-of-state students, O'Brien
said. The university should
begin with recruitment of
Nebraska students and then
focus on those out-of-state.
The university is under
enrolled by 7,000 students, she
said, and non-Nebraska resi
dents can help fill that gap.
Joel Schafer, ASUN presi
dent and UNL student regent,
agreed on the importance of
recruiting out-of-state stu
dents.
“We've come a long way
(with recruiting) at the
University of Nebraska
Lincoln,” Schafer said. “It's
imperative for us to start
recruiting more out-of-state
students. It brings diversity to
campus.”
Offering modest scholar
ships to students who score in
the middle range on the ACT
will help recruitment, Finnell
said, as will offering tuition dis
counts to out-of-state students.
The university has begun
purchasing the names of high
school students who take tests
such as the PLAN test, the PSAT,
the ACT and the SAT early.
This increases the pool of
names of prospective students,
Finnell said.
Involving students, faculty
and alumni in the recruitment
effort would also help, she said.
Those people can be more spe
cific than the admissions office
can be.
In other news, the regents
approved the site construction
and preparation for UNMC's
Research Center of Excellence.
Construction of the 10-level
Family requests
to speak for Reeves
REEVES from page 1
The Pardons Board consisting
of Gov. Mike Johanns, Attorney
General Don Stenberg and
Secretary of State Scott Moore,
refused to hear any arguments
about Reeves’case at the meeting.
There, the board voted 2-1 to
deny Reeves a commutation
hearing, which would have
allowed the Lamms to argue
against Reeves’ death sentence.
The denial and not being able
to speak at the meeting led the
Tamms to file a lawsuit claiming
they were denied their constitu
tional right to express their oppo
sition to Reeves’ execution to the
Pardons Board.
Murder Victims’ Families for
Reconciliation, a group for fami
lies who oppose the death penal
ty, also filed a brief in support of
the Lamms.
Renny Cushing, the organiza
tion's executive director, said the
Lamm case is historic.
“This case is not about what it
would do to Randy Reeves, but
what it would do to the Lamms,”
Cushing said
Assistant Attorney General
“We appear to have a
right without a right.
There is no provision
under the law to
exercise our right.”
Gus Lamm
victim’s husband
Kirk Brown said in his opening
oral arguments the Lamms can
not seek redress under the victims
protection amendment because
it's a “totally unenforceable con
stitutional right-”
Brown said the Nebraska
Legislature has not passed a law
for the enforcement of the vic
tims’ rights amendment in the
state’s constitution.
Hutchinson said the state
cannot have a constitutional right
without also having a remedy.
“We appear to have a right
without a right," Gus Lamm said.
“There is no provision under the
law to exercise our right”
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center that will be located on
the west edge of the UNMC
campus will begin in the spring.
The 284,000 square foot
center will promote research
across disciplines and enhance
studies of cancer, cardiovascu
lar diseases, genetics and biolo
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The board also approved a
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2003 biennial budget request
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Legislature in September.
The request for health care
funding will increase from its
original $2 million to $4.25 mil
lion.
8?1
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FROM STAFF REPORTS
Another interim university
leader will step down next semes
ter, but his replacement isn't the
result of a search committee.
David Brinkerhoff, acting
senior vice chancellor for aca
demic affairs, will resume his role
as associate vice chancellor for
academic affairs at the start of
next semester.
Brinkerhoff's successor is
also his predecessor, Richard
Edwards.
Edwards, senior vice chan
cellor for Academic Affairs, left
his position this summer to
undergo treatment for multiple
myeloma - cancer of blood plas
ma.
Edwards was diagnosed last
September and planned a six
month recovery period.
He underwent radiation and
chemotherapy treatments, and
was scheduled to undergo a
stem-cell transplant at the
University of Nebraska Medical
Center in June.
Edwards will be back in his
office Jan. 8.
“We’re very excited to have
Rick back,” Brinkerhoff told
members of the Academic Senate
on Tuesday.
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