After being contacted early in the semester by a military recruiter at his UB e-mail address, Chase Banna decided to reply. Rather than just deleting the message, he called the phone number in the e-mail and asked to be removed from the recruiter's mailing list.
Banna is one of thousands of UB students whose e-mail addresses have been handed to military recruiters in compliance with the controversial Solomon Amendment, a federal law that requires colleges and universities to allow military recruiters on campus.
As the constitutionality of the law will soon be challenged in the Supreme Court, some at UB contend it is a violation of student privacy and say the school should stop its compliance. UB officials say it is simply the law.
"We are required to send the military directory information we have available," said Terri Mangione, senior associate vice provost for student academic records and financial services.
When he called to get his name off the list, Banna wasn't concerned because he thought that would be the last of his recruitment solicitations. That was until early November when they started coming again.
"On Nov. 3, I received another e-mail," Banna said. "I sent them another e-mail, asking them again not to contact me as I was not interested."
Yet another recruitment message arrived two days later.
After seeing his efforts were futile, Banna said he started researches into his privacy rights as a UB student and the continued solicitations. His findings raised questions about the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, and led him to Mangione.
FERPA is a federal statute that says that in most instances, a student's permission is needed to release private information outside of the school.
What Banna didn't realize is that UB already had the permission it needed.
Mangione said the only way Banna could be removed from the contact list is if he removed his contact information from the UB student directory, where the university automatically lists all UB students unless a student requests removal.
UB often uses the directory's information to confirm for employers, graduate schools and scholarship programs basic information like field of study and degrees earned. Without permission, UB would have to contact students directly first, taking more time to get responses.
"Somebody could lose a scholarship or job on a two or three day delay," Mangione said. "What we found was that the majority of students want this information available. It would be very time-consuming to make the default 'no' when 27,000 students want 'yes.' "
Banna still had questions, now about UB's interpretation of FERPA.
"It was decided that default yes was what students wanted, however, I feel that students may not have known the full extent of it," he said.
"I also feel it brings up an important ethical question as to whether or not the university should willingly hand over contact information to an organization with such a closed mind." Banna added. "Academia is a place for open minds and learning, and that type of idea has no place here."
English professor James Holstun, a member of the UB Progressive Alliance, believes the handing over of e-mail addresses needs to stop.
"Military recruiters have a terrible record of misleading recruits," Holstun said.
When he learned UB was giving student information to military recruiters, Holstun said he felt "a sense of distress that the university would be cooperating with the recruiters so closely."
Although most universities comply in providing directory information, the greater issue of allowing recruiters on campus is a heated one in itself. Under the Solomon Amendment, the Secretary of Defense may deny federal grants money to a college or university that doesn't allow recruiters on campus.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has used the law to do exactly that and deny federal funding to three law schools, but a coalition of law schools known as the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights sued and won in a case against Rumsfeld.
The group won on the claim that the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is discrimination. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear another case questioning the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment starting next week.
According to Mangione, UB will continue to provide listed directory information as requested, in compliance with the law, but acknowledged the upcoming case in the Supreme Court.
"Depending on what happens, there may be more discussion," she said.
