By MARY LYNNE O'NEAL

Staff Writer

The U.S. Department of Education has made a proposal to collect data from every college and university about student progression, causing widespread concern from officials and students about privacy invasion.

According to an article from The Boston Globe, under the new system for the National Center for Education Statistics at the Department of Education, the government could collect information such as name, address, birth date, gender and race.

Information on the student's field of study, credits, amount of tuition paid and how much financial aid he or she receives would also be gathered.

Dickie Crawford, dean of student life and auxiliary services, said he would support the proposition if it was used it correctly.

"I wouldn't have a problem with it if the program was used for appropriate reasons," he said. "Checks and balances would have to be put in place."

Crawford said it is just like the use of Social Security numbers.

"They've always been used as identification for students on our campus, but if someone else were to get a hold of them, there's no telling what would happen," Crawford said.

Currently, the university is implementing plans to use new student numbers in place of Social Security numbers.

The Department of Education argues that privacy is not invaded because the information would not be shared with anyone else, including law enforcement officials.

According to Issue No. 71 of the AScribe AdvanceEdition, schools already provide the government with information such as enrollment, student aid, graduation rates and other data.

The Department of Education contends that its current statistics do not present an accurate picture of graduation rates because it does not track students who transfer from one school to another. The data also does not show how much the student is actually paying to attend after financial aid is taken into account.

Students from Tech stand on both sides of the issue.

Heather Herrin, a senior history major, said she believes the government is just doing its job.

"I think they have a right to know everything about us if they are providing us with great schools to go to and degrees to earn," Herrin said.

"By collecting data from the colleges and universities, they are just trying to help provide better statistics for the future."

Kelly Garner, a junior biology major, said she thinks the government is invading students' privacy by gathering too much information.

"If students are on full-paid scholarships and have federal aid, then the government has a right to know how its money is spent," Garner said. "If not, then I don't think all of that information is any of their business."

According to The Boston Globe, Congress will meet sometime in the beginning of this year to consider the proposal. If it is put into effect, it would have to be studied first and federal law would have to be amended to prohibit parents from denying permission for the release of students' records.