Academic groups across the country are referencing themes from George Orwell’s “1984” in response to a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Education.
The department’s Office of Inspector General proposed a plan to store all personal information of grant, loan and contract recipients, who tend to be college students, in one collective data system. Such information, which includes items like birth dates and social security numbers, is currently stored in nine different databases, several of which house major collections of student financial aid recipient information. Academic organizations fear the solidified power of combining all nine databases and creating a governmental system reminiscent of Orwell’s Big Brother.
The plan, known as the Office of Inspector General Data Analytics System (ODAS), was announced in the Federal Register on Oct. 16. Almost immediately, student advocate groups across the country called foul. On Nov. 17, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers sent a letter of protest to OIG. The letter was co-signed by seven other academic agencies, including the Association of American Universities. University of Oregon is a member of both AACRAO and AAU.
Points of privacy
| Privacy Act of 1974 This act was passed in response to privacy abuse that occurred during the presidency of Richard Nixon. The act protects certain federal government documents that specifically pertain to individuals and allows individuals to review any records that concern them. Files not protected by the Privacy Act include medical records, bank accounts and all other documents not maintained by the federal government. Who is the inspector general? The current acting inspector general of the Department of Education is Jerry Bridges. His job, according to the Department of Education Web site, is to “conduct independent and objective audits, investigations, inspections, and other activities.” Inspector generals serve throughout multiple branches of the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense and the Postal Service. |
“We … support OIG’s creation and maintenance of properly configured data systems that enable it to discharge its statutory duties,” AACRAO Executive Director Jerome H. Sullivan wrote in the Nov. 17 letter. “We are, however, quite alarmed by the scale and scope of data collection proposed in ODAS.”
OIG asserts that the system will make data collection more effective. According to the office’s Nov. 17 article, the “new system of records will be used to identify internal control weaknesses.” Also in the article, OIG stresses the benefits of having “access to a single repository of data that currently resides in many different department systems of records.”
Opponents of ODAS remain concerned about OIG’s support of waivers of the federal Privacy Act. Such action would allow the inspector general to have access to ODAS and share all stored information with outside parties. Federal agencies, law enforcement or foreign governments would have access to ODAS data if they are able to convince OIG of a legitimate need for the information.
According to a Nov. 19 “Inside Higher Ed” article, “the inspector general’s office insists that the colleges’ concerns are greatly exaggerated.” OIG explains that the information which would populate the larger database already exists and that the security will remain the same.
Associations such as AACRAO maintain that ODAS puts too much power in the hands of one agency and relate the program to “a Big Brother-like surveillance system.”
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