Dye notes protocol changes for Patriot Act, alien registration

To the Editors:

I recently read an article in The Washington Post that lays out developments concerning a new era of university-FBI cooperation, and write to assure the Oberlin campus community that this College is not part of this trend.
There are developments concerning civil liberties, however, that do affect the college community. The alien registration program that requires all male aliens in the United States who are citizens of a list of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian nations is of immediate concern to the College.
We do have male students here from several of the nations on the list who are now required to register with the Cleveland office of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. We are doing our best to provide them with support and, if desired, counsel. Inasmuch as the great majority of individuals who are caught up in this registration drive are innocent of any crime, this new measure is a very troubling development that unfairly infringes upon the civil liberties that customarily have been accorded to aliens in the United States.
The alien registration program marks the first significant impact of the USA Patriot Act on Oberlin. Although the College itself has not been requested to provide any information to the government as part of this program, we are certainly aware of the ways in which its provisions single out individuals on the basis of nationality, religion and race, and discourage rather than encourage international students from a growing number of countries in studying in the United States. I understand that other countries may soon be added to the list.
Oberlin has not changed its protocols and policies regarding student information sharing since the passage of the USA Patriot Act. What we have done since its passage is to notify offices that might receive such requests—the Offices of the Registrar, Safety and Security, the Dean of Students, the Dean of Studies, the advisor to international students, and the library — that any requests from the federal government should be referred to the President’s office.
We have not and will not respond automatically to any request for information about students or faculty, and we reserve the right to deny any request that we find inappropriate, unreasonable and not required by law. I will inform the campus community of the general nature of any such requests for information that may come to us.
In conclusion, Oberlin has not been approached by the FBI or any other federal agency about establishing any sort of ongoing cooperative relationship. Should we receive any government requests for student information, we will evaluate the appropriateness of the request, just as we have done in the past. Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to provide such information, particularly in a focused criminal investigation, to the federal government. But we have not and will not respond automatically to any government requests.

—Nancy S. Dye
College President