HR0364 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0364 LRB094 12129 RAS 45470 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Education wants public and private universities and community colleges to provide personal information about every student in the country in order to create the national Student Record Data System; the Department claims that the new data system will provide more accurate and useful information regarding the status of our higher education system; and

WHEREAS, This data system would collect from universities the following information for each student: social security number, history of classes taken, current class schedule, address, phone number, race, gender, academic performance, degree and certificate completion status, and student loan records; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 17 million students nationwide attend institutions of higher education that would be required to report data to the Student Record Data System; and

WHEREAS, Many postsecondary institutions are already facing financial difficulties and requiring these institutions to submit additional reports to the federal government would add additional costs to their already cash-strapped budgets; furthermore, these costs may have to be passed on to students in the form of increased tuition or fees; and

WHEREAS, A person's social security number serves as the "access code" to his or her life and a database of 17 million individuals' personal information would be an extremely attractive target for computer identity theft; in 2004 alone, 11,138 Illinois residents reported cases of identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission; and

WHEREAS, Organizations such as the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the United States Student Association oppose this potential violation of students' privacy; and

WHEREAS, Other critics worry that, in the future, additional federal uses will be demanded for the information contained in the database, such as making the information available to other agencies like the Department of Homeland Security or the Internal Revenue Service; currently under the USA Patriot Act, the Attorney General of the United States and the United States Department of Justice would have unrestricted primary access to the information pursuant to their duty to fight terrorism; and

WHEREAS, A vote of the Congress of the United States is required to authorize the U.S. Department of Education to create the Student Record Data System; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we strongly urge the Congress of the United States and the United States Department of Education not to move forward with the creation of the Student Record Data System as it severely impinges upon the privacy rights of our students and places great financial and clerical burdens upon our already overworked universities and community colleges; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, each member of the Illinois congressional deligation, and the U.S. Secretary of Education.