RULES WOULD PROTECT COUNSELOR-STUDENT CONVERSATIONS ABOUT CRIMES

Washington

Counselors would not have to inform campus-security officials about crimes
they learn about in confidential sessions with students, under rules
proposed by the U.S. Education Department on Tuesday.

Over the last year, college lobbyists have locked horns with representatives
of watchdog groups over whether changes made during last year's renewal of
the Higher Education Act exempted counselors from having to share
information that students tell them in one-on-one sessions.

At issue is a sentence that Congress added to the law stating that the
requirement that colleges publish detailed reports on campus crime every
year should not "be construed to require the reporting or disclosure of
privileged information."

The college groups said that Congress had added the language to protect the
confidential communication that counselors have with students. But
representatives of two groups, Security on Campus, which monitors colleges'
policies on crime, and the Society of Professional Journalists, contended
that it was possible for counselors to provide statistical information on
crimes that they have learned about without violating confidentiality.

In the proposed rules, which were published in the August 10 Federal
Register, the department sides with the college groups.

In the preamble to its proposed regulations, the department says it intends
to "ensure that crime victims and others are not deterred from seeking
appropriate psychological counseling."

The department not only exempts from the reporting requirements professional
counselors who provide psychological counseling on campus, but also pastoral
counselors, who are recognized within a religious order as someone who
provides confidential counseling.

The proposed rules represent a change of policy for the department.

In 1994, it began requiring colleges to include in their yearly reports
crime information shared with all officials "who have significant
responsibility for student and campus activities," including deans,
residence-hall directors, and counselors.

At the time, the department noted that sexual-assault victims were often
reluctant to report the incidents to campus police, and were more likely to
seek help from counselors. To protect the privacy of victims, the department
insisted that counselors would not have to report such crimes at the time
they occurred, or provide details about the incidents. Instead, they would
simply be required to keep a tally of such incidents.

Counselors at various colleges have complained, however, that police
officers or other campus-safety officials seldom are satisfied with mere
statistical data. The counselors say they are often asked for detailed
accounts of the crimes. They say they fear that crime victims will not seek
them out if they are perceived to be cooperating with the police.

In its proposed rules, the department, too, says it suspects that "requiring
reporting from counselors has had a chilling effect on victims and others'
seeking counseling."

Despite the exemption for counselors, the department makes clear, in its
proposed rules, that other college officials, such as deans and
residence-hall directors, would continue to be required to report crime
statistics to campus-security officials.

The department also urges colleges to encourage counselors to inform their
patients of the procedures to report crimes "on a voluntary, confidential
basis for inclusion in the annual disclosure of crime statistics."

The department has asked that comments on the proposed rules be submitted by
September 15 to Paula Husselmann, Department of Education. P.O. Box 23272,
Washington 20026-3272.