Spring Break
Military calls raise student ire, concerns
Julia Baum
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: News
Sacramento State students who received telephone calls about enlisting from the U.S. Army question student-privacy laws and how the military decides who to target.
Dennis Geyer, the university's registrar, explained that Sac State is required by a federal law called the Solomon Amendment to comply with requests from the military for student information. Enacted by Congress in 1996 to assist the military in meeting recruiting goals, the law allows the Secretary of State to deny federal funding to institutions of higher learning if they prohibit military recruiting or refuse to provide certain information about students to the military.
"We try to help the recruiters narrow their scope of what they're looking for as far as communication purposes," Geyer said.
He said the university does not ask why the military tries to taper its search; the university merely provides the information for valid requests. That information includes the name, age, level of education, degrees earned, area of major, address, telephone numbers and the most recent enrollment in an educational institution.
"When they try to get more specific than that we decline it…we say, 'This is what you're limited to,'" Geyer said.
Geyer said the university often receives requests from vendors which are reviewed; requests considered inappropriate or permissive are ignored. "We typically don't respond at all to credit card companies…we've been very protective of student information."
Master Sergeant Michael Heple, an enrollment adviser at the campus Reserve Officers Training Corps office, said the ROTC on campus does not recruit students and is also protective of student information. Heple said that while the various branches of the armed forces are free to recruit on campus at any time without approval, the campus ROTC does ask recruiters to alert them when the military comes to visit.
"The army recruiters check in with us when they come on campus, but they don't always do that…occasionally we'll get a complaint from the university that says that some recruiter…did something that was inappropriate," Heple said.
Dennis Geyer, the university's registrar, explained that Sac State is required by a federal law called the Solomon Amendment to comply with requests from the military for student information. Enacted by Congress in 1996 to assist the military in meeting recruiting goals, the law allows the Secretary of State to deny federal funding to institutions of higher learning if they prohibit military recruiting or refuse to provide certain information about students to the military.
"We try to help the recruiters narrow their scope of what they're looking for as far as communication purposes," Geyer said.
He said the university does not ask why the military tries to taper its search; the university merely provides the information for valid requests. That information includes the name, age, level of education, degrees earned, area of major, address, telephone numbers and the most recent enrollment in an educational institution.
"When they try to get more specific than that we decline it…we say, 'This is what you're limited to,'" Geyer said.
Geyer said the university often receives requests from vendors which are reviewed; requests considered inappropriate or permissive are ignored. "We typically don't respond at all to credit card companies…we've been very protective of student information."
Master Sergeant Michael Heple, an enrollment adviser at the campus Reserve Officers Training Corps office, said the ROTC on campus does not recruit students and is also protective of student information. Heple said that while the various branches of the armed forces are free to recruit on campus at any time without approval, the campus ROTC does ask recruiters to alert them when the military comes to visit.
"The army recruiters check in with us when they come on campus, but they don't always do that…occasionally we'll get a complaint from the university that says that some recruiter…did something that was inappropriate," Heple said.
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