College violates the law over gun permits - Iowa

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Glenn E. Meyer

New member
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...ata-to-Johnson-sheriff?archive&nclick_check=1

Under FERPA - a privacy act - information about students is protected unless the student signs a waiver. I live with it and have to take an update class every once in awhile

The University of Iowa has been breaking this law:

The University of Iowa has been quietly sharing federally protected student information with Johnson County law enforcement officials who handle gun permit applications — an arrangement that one national organization calls a “license to snoop.”
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It is to report trouble makers to the law. They report depression and anger.

Well, isn't that the nicest thing? Will you go to the counseling center now - knowing that your private concerns are report to Sheriff Andy?

PS - just talked to two academic clinicians who think such is a horror. Also, the NY Safe act is causing an uproar there. Have to check that out.
 
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Glenn, I was in nursing and on our practice council when the HIPAA privacy regulations rolled out.
We went over those regs with a fine tooth comb. Unless that waiver is very carefully worded and extensive these people are not following the law.
After looking at the regs our attorney at the time said that the consent to release information type forms had to include the purpose the information was released for, and who the information was released to with "some specificity". Blanket releases wouldn't work.
Maybe he was wrong, or the law has evolved but I'll bet you dollars to doughnut's that their consent said nothing about their records being released to LE for the purpose of determining whether they could have any sort of permit.
 
Ripe for a lawsuit. If the university attorney they quoted in the story approved of the process, he's an idiot and should be fired. If he's just trying to handle the aftermath and avoid legal problems for the university, he's doing his job. Either way, the university is out of line. I can't get that information from my daughter's university even though I'm footing the bill.
 
Let's hope someone with standing uses this 20+ year-old situation to (in the legal sense) open new orifices for both the university and the sheriffs.
 
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