Secretary of the Institute and General Counsel Charles Carletta met with the Student Senate on Tuesday to discuss collecting information from students.
Following the shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University last spring, many college campuses have been looking into initiating new methods of notifying students in the event of an emergency; however, being able to alert students of what is going on throughout campus depends heavily on how much personal information the students allow universities to have. Some colleges have experienced difficulties with having students be willing to give out personal information for such purposes.
At the meeting, the Senate discussed with Carletta at length why such information is needed by the Institute, as well as how such information would be protected.
Senator Tom Price ’08, who has met with Carletta previously regarding the issue, opened the meeting by discussing why the information was really needed by the Institute. The primary reason would be in the case of an emergency on campus, like what happened on campus last year with the suicide in the CII building or with an incident similar to the Virginia Tech shooting. Another reason Price cited would be if there were an emergency in a student’s family, such as a death or severe injury, and the school needed to get in contact with the student to inform him. A last reason would be if a student was out of contact, and there was concern from the student’s parents.
The Institute would be asking students for cell phone numbers, as well as off-campus addresses. Information would be highly protected, and would only be accessed by the Registrar, the Dean of Students Office, and Public Safety. The information wouldn’t be shared with other departments unless “absolutely necessary,” according to Price, and is a “non-directory directive.”
Carletta said that he wanted to do this project with Senate input and guidance, and that although it is not set in stone, the need for compiling the information is real. He emphasized the fact that this is not a matter of enforcement, but of protection, and it will not be distributed where it doesn’t need to be.
In a straw poll of the Senate, all but one senator said they would support using the system at the Institute.
Carletta was hopeful that the system would be implemented by the spring, so that the system could be ready for use next fall.
