Few would contest the need for the Buckley Act, which is intended to protect students’ rights for privacy concerning their school records. However, it appears as though some institutions are taking advantage of this protection for their own benefit.

Although the practice does not seem to be uncommon according to various news reports throughout the past few years, Kansas State University’s student newspaper, The Kansas State Collegian, discovered their campus police department to be abusing the Buckley Act.

The Collegian Managing Editor Erwin Seba said they found the campus police department has been keeping two separate crime logs—one for themselves, and one for the press. One can respect the idea that the police department probably wants to protect the identity of victims involved in sensitive crimes, such as rape, but they should not have the right to pretend the event never occurred.

A university does have a lot at stake if they are deemed an unsafe institution because of the number of crimes reported. But concealing this information is not merely protecting parents from worry, as some claim.

Sooner or later, these parents and students just might find out about the crime problems on their own. It is the school’s responsibility to let people know what problems exist, and maybe, people can join together to help solve them.