University of Iowa gives their private student data to law enforcement.

The University of Iowa has been quietly sharing federally protected student information with Johnson County law enforcement officials who handle gun permit applications — an arrangement that one national organization calls a “license to snoop.”

The information includes some data on classroom achievement that by law can’t be considered by sheriffs when processing permit-to-carry applications and are normally protected from disclosure by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Mark Braun, chief of staff for U of I President Sally Mason, said that in some cases the information speaks to a student’s perceived status as a “troublemaker,” but could also include information on failing grades or signs of depression or anger.

“This is incredibly alarming,” said Justin Dedecker, a graduate student who sought a gun permit in 2011. “How does my performance in class become an indicator of my mental stability?”

A Des Moines Register review of 2,000 pages of emails between Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek’s office and the university shows that:

• After being notified by the sheriff’s office that a student has applied for a permit to acquire or carry a gun, the university provides the sheriff’s office with information on the student’s academic failures and disciplinary issues. When a faculty or staff member applies for a permit, unspecified personnel information may be given to the sheriff’s office.

• The sheriff acknowledges that some of the information collected by the school probably “can’t be used” by his office, given the legal restrictions he faces when it comes to denying a permit to carry a weapon.

• University officials never see the privacy waivers they are relying on to disclose personal information on students and faculty. The U of I’s attorney says the university operates on the assumption that the individuals have signed the sheriff’s permit application, which includes a privacy waiver.

• The sheriff’s office doesn’t tell permit applicants that the waiver authorizes the disclosure of academic information on students and personnel information on school employees. In fact, the sheriff’s office tells applicants the waiver applies only to criminal records. Under federal regulations, a waiver authorizing access to FERPA-protected student information must specify the precise type of education records being disclosed.

Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said the University of Iowa is acting as though the local police have a “license to snoop” at student grades and disciplinary write-ups, despite federal protection of that information through FERPA.

“This type of situation is precisely what the sponsors had in mind when they enacted FERPA,” he said. “It was to restrict the sharing of student education and disciplinary information with law enforcement.”

“This definitely raises red flags for me,” said Alex Korn, who applied for a permit as a student in June 2011. “After I applied for a permit, the dean called me on my cellphone and asked me about it, so I knew the sheriff told the university. What I didn’t know was that the information was flowing in the other direction and the dean was sharing information about me with the sheriff.”

The information sharing between the university and sheriff is unusual not only because education information is protected by FERPA, but also because state law stipulates specific reasons for denying a permit to carry a gun.

Those reasons do not include academic failure, student disciplinary matters or signs of depression. They do include a court finding of a “mental defect,” convictions for specific crimes, an addiction to alcohol, and probable cause that an individual will engage in the illegal use of firearms.

“At the root level, this is all about an invasion of privacy,” said Jeff Burkett of the Iowa Firearms Coalition, which supports the rights of gun owners. “This is Big Brother. What we’re coming down to in this culture is bureaucrats and anti-gun people treating law-abiding permit holders as if they are sexual predators.”http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130221/NEWS/302210074/-1/SPORTS12/Register-Investigation-University-Iowa-gives-private-student-data-Johnson-sheriff?nclick_check=1