Full Text of HR0364 94th General Assembly
HR0364 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HR0364 |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The United States Department of Education wants | 3 |
| public and private universities and community colleges to | 4 |
| provide personal information about every student in the country | 5 |
| in order to create the national Student Record Data System; the | 6 |
| Department claims that the new data system will provide more | 7 |
| accurate and useful information regarding the status of our | 8 |
| higher education system; and
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| WHEREAS, This data system would collect from universities | 10 |
| the following information for each student: social security | 11 |
| number, history of classes taken, current class schedule, | 12 |
| address, phone number, race, gender, academic performance, | 13 |
| degree and certificate completion status, and student loan | 14 |
| records; and
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| WHEREAS, Nearly 17 million students nationwide attend | 16 |
| institutions of higher education that would be required to | 17 |
| report data to the Student Record Data System; and
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| WHEREAS, Many postsecondary institutions are already | 19 |
| facing financial difficulties and requiring these institutions | 20 |
| to submit additional reports to the federal government would | 21 |
| add additional costs to their already cash-strapped budgets; | 22 |
| furthermore, these costs may have to be passed on to students | 23 |
| in the form of increased tuition or fees; and
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| WHEREAS, A person's social security number serves as the | 25 |
| "access code" to his or her life and a database of 17 million | 26 |
| individuals' personal information would be an extremely | 27 |
| attractive target for computer identity theft; in 2004 alone, | 28 |
| 11,138 Illinois residents reported cases of identity theft to | 29 |
| the Federal Trade Commission; and
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| WHEREAS, Organizations such as the National Association of |
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HR0364 |
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LRB094 12129 RAS 45470 r |
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| Independent Colleges and Universities and the United States | 2 |
| Student Association oppose this potential violation of | 3 |
| students' privacy; and
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| WHEREAS, Other critics worry that, in the future, | 5 |
| additional federal uses will be demanded for the information | 6 |
| contained in the database, such as making the information | 7 |
| available to other agencies like the Department of Homeland | 8 |
| Security or the Internal Revenue Service; currently under the | 9 |
| USA Patriot Act, the Attorney General of the United States and | 10 |
| the United States Department of Justice would have unrestricted | 11 |
| primary access to the information pursuant to their duty to | 12 |
| fight terrorism; and
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| WHEREAS, A vote of the Congress of the United States is | 14 |
| required to authorize the U.S. Department of Education to | 15 |
| create the Student Record Data System; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 17 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 18 |
| we strongly urge the Congress of the United States and the | 19 |
| United States Department of Education not to move forward with | 20 |
| the creation of the Student Record Data System as it severely | 21 |
| impinges upon the privacy rights of our students and places | 22 |
| great financial and clerical burdens upon our already | 23 |
| overworked universities and community colleges; and be it | 24 |
| further
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| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 26 |
| delivered to the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, the | 27 |
| Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, each member of | 28 |
| the Illinois congressional deligation, and the U.S. Secretary | 29 |
| of Education.
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