If passed, the 1997 Accuracy in Campus Crime Reporting Act would work wonders by helping make public college campuses safer places for students, in spite of opponents’ beliefs that the bill will allow for a full-blown invasion of privacy.

Colleges have avenues at their disposal that allow them to maintain closed records of judicial hearings and crime logs. And college administrators can try to use those avenues to distort the public’s impression of the actual amount of crime on their campuses.

Why? Because crime does not enhance glossy college catalogs and colleges’ recruiting and retention strategies. Instead, colleges can use existing laws, such as the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act, to mislabel campus crime incidents as educational records.

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That act, also known as the Buckley Amendment, sometimes is used by campuses to shield crime incidents from an unsuspecting public. The University of Georgia hid behind Buckley when a student reporter tried to obtain records of a campus court proceeding involving a fraternity. Fortunately, the Georgia State Supreme Court thought otherwise.

In spite of 1990’s Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act, requiring all federally funded campuses to submit annual crime statistics, universities have tried circumventing the law and have been caught. The University of Pennsylvania and Clemson University are being investigated for possible violations, while Miami University of Ohio recently was found to have violated the act.

But the Accuracy in Campus Crime Reporting Act would seal that and other formerly accessible avenues while guiding college administrators toward a better path a path of honesty that will allow them to face up to the amount of crime on their campuses

The act, House Bill 715, would require public colleges to report incidents of a wide-ranging types of crimes including murder, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, vehicle theft, arson, larceny, simple assault, vandalism, two categories of sex offenses and violations of liquor, drug and weapons laws.

Although reports of most of these crimes were required by law before, the new provisions of HB 715 would also give the public access to college disciplinary proceedings involving these acts, and allow the public to access daily logs of reports kept by college police. The names of students accused of crimes in the logs and in disciplinary records also would be public in most cases. California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia already have existing laws allowing the public to access such records.

At SIUC, University News Service disseminates information it receives from University Police. But SIUC’s disciplinary hearings are closed to the public. Controversial events such as last year’s Halloween riot suspension hearings could not be monitored by the public. The media was forced to rely on SIUC’s accounts of hearing procedures to report ensuing news.

But that observation touches a sore point with most opponents of HB 715, who do not believe the media should be able to access college disciplinary hearings.

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Although HB 715 would provide a more complete view of crime and how it is handled on college campuses, opponents argue that students’ overall right to personal privacy is challenged by these measures. Some administrators even balk at the idea of exhaustively reporting campus crime.

In a letter sent to the Illinois Congressional Delegation, SIU President Ted Sanders states crime victims would be wary of bringing charges for fear of crime incidents especially sexual assault incidents becoming public matter. Sander’s letter also states extensively reporting campus crime is burdensome and would be of little interest to the federal government. Undergraduate Student Government recently passed a resolution opposing HB 715, due to its total disregard for students’ personal privacy.

But students have a more important right to know about crime occurring on their campuses allowing open disciplinary cases and records will give the public a valuable measuring tool. HB 715 would let students be fully informed about crime on their campuses.

And it is unlikely that the media will breach good, standard journalism practices in its effort to report campus crime and sensitivity to victim’s wishes most likely would prevail. HB 715 would allow the media to do its job of being a watchdog by monitoring disciplinary hearings and discerning whether or not students are treated fairly.

Schools no longer will be able to sweep campus crime under the rug with HB 715. This is a win-win situation for taxpayers and students.