ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


78 / C& R L N e w s ■ F e b r u a r y  2 0 0 3

C o l l e g e  & R e s e a r c h  L i b r a r i e s  n e w s

Reaction to terror

Gauging the aftermath and the impact 

o f USA PATRIOT Legislation

by James G. Neal

Ed. note: The following  is b a se d  o n  a  presen ta­
tion a t  C olu m bia University S ch ool of jo u m a lis m  
First A m en d m e n t B r e a k fa s t in  N ew  York o n  D e­
c e m b e r  6, 2001.

“Let our patriotism  b e reflected  in the 
creation o f con fidence in on e another, 
rather than in crusades o f suspicion.”

—Jo h n  F. Kennedy

It is essential that w e assess the future im­
p act on  high er edu cation o f the Uniting and 
Strengthening America by Providing Appro­
priate T ools R equ ired to In tercep t and  O b ­
struct Terrorism Act, thankfully shortened  to 
the USA PATRIOT Act. This leg islation , in 
com bination w ith other federal initiatives af­
fecting international students and actions re­
ducing public access to governm ent informa­
tion, threatens the balance betw een civil liber­
ties and national security.

American colleges and universities continue 
to evaluate the policy and operational impact 
o f these changes. The immediate timidity which 
characterized their response is now  giving way 
to expanding debate, alarm, and, in some cases, 
protest and resistance. Did the extraordinary 
circumstances demand such an immediate and 
pervasive response.…  Did w e m ove prema­
turely?

I ou tlin e b e lo w  the 12 areas w h ere the 
higher education community, in my view, will

experience the greatest impact, and where fun­
damental concerns should b e raised:

1. We are c o n cern ed  about the m odifica­
tion o f the Family Educational Rights and Pri­
vacy Act (FERPA) to expand the circumstances 
governing n onconsensual release o f student 
records to government officials.

2. We are c o n cern ed  about the m odifica­
tion o f the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 
Act to ex p a n d  the d efin itio n  o f b u sin ess 
records, including tangible items that can b e 
accessed by federal intelligence agencies.

3. We are con cern ed  that Internet service 
providers, including colleges and universities, 
m ay b e  ca lle d  u p o n  to p erm it govern m en t 
agents, without a court order, to intercept the 
wire o r electronic communications o f persons 
regarded as “computer trespassers.”

4. We are con cern ed  about th e provision 
that authorizes prosecu tion o f a person w ho 
possesses biological agents or toxins that are 
not reasonably justified by such things as bona 
fide research.

5. We are con cern ed  about the expansion 
o f  su rv eillan ce, w iretaps, s ea rch  w arrants, 
pen/trap orders, and subpoenas with reduced 
judicial checks and balances.

6. We are con cern ed  about the expanded 
definition o f “domestic terrorism” and its p o ­
tential im pact o n  legitim ate p rotest activity 
and threatened opening o f surveillance to U.S. 
political and religious organizations.

A b ou t t h e  a u th o r

James G. Neal is vice president for information services and university librarian at Columbia University, e-mail: 
jn e a l@ co lu m b ia .e d u .

mailto:jneal@columbia.edu


C&RL News ■  February 2003 / 79

7. We are concerned about the ability of 
U.S. courts to use intelligence obtained by for­
eign governments in ways that would other­
wise be illegal in the United States and would 
limit the foreign travel and communication of 
faculty and students.

8.  We are concerned that colleges and uni­
versities will be asked to collect and share with 
federal agents and law enforcement officials 
records, for example, of library use and Internet 
searching by individuals.

9. We are concerned that students from des­
ignated world areas will be subject to extraor­
dinary surveillance and harassment, affecting 
the ability to recruit and retain international 
students at U.S. colleges and universities.

10. We are concerned that new and burden­
some record-keeping and documentation re­
quirements will be mandated at colleges and 
universities for international students.

11. We are concerned that government in­
formation being withdrawn from agency Web 
sites and removed from depository library  col­
lections will signal a reduction in the free flow 
of appropriate information to the public.

12. We are concerned that the expanded threat 
of surveillance and investigation will erode, or 
better, “chill,” intellectual freedom, at the core of 
higher education values in the United States.

These 12 points illustrate some broad areas 
of concern in the U.S. higher education commu­
nity in response to the new legislation. Govern­
ment officials have pushed back and stated that 
these objections are not warranted and that suffi­
cient protections have been written into the law.

American colleges and universities provide 
critical leadership and support for our national 
efforts to combat terrorism and to strengthen 
our defense capabilities, for example:

1. We educate and build valuable relation­
ships with expanding numbers of international 
students, the future leaders from countries 
throughout the world, particularly Islamic re­
gions and East Asia.

2.  We are the primary source of individuals 
who are educated to serve in the American 
foreign service and intelligence agencies.

3. We carry out fundamental research on 
the technology and policy aspects of all as­
pects of security.

4. We carry out fundamental research on 
military weapons technology.

5. We provide training in all of the world’s 
critical languages and cultures.

6. We are often the world’s major reposito­
ries of publications and other information re­
sources, in our academic research libraries, from 
strategic world regions and countries.

7. We are centers for legal research and de­
liberation that allow the United States to make 
informed decisions about new national poli­
cies and legislative strategies.

8. We are centers of debate, embodying the 
values that underpin our constitutional free­
doms.

Socrates once wrote: “I am a citizen, not of 
Athens, not of Greece, but of the whole 
world.” Our colleges and universities advance 
our national commitment to globalization. The 
USA PATRIOT Act, I fear, will enforce isola­
tion and destructive nationalism. It may also 
have an impact far beyond its detailed and com­
plex provisions. Its greatest influence may be 
the broader license for abuse of individual 
rights.

The late author Ken Kesey once commented: 
“You can count the seeds in the apple, but you 
can’t count the apples in the seed.” That is our 
fundamental challenge! ■