Friday, March 23, 2001

Judge Halts Effort by Bates College to Prevent Disclosure of Student E-Mail Messages By ANDREA L. FOSTER A Maine judge has ruled that Bates College cannot prevent e-mail messages written by its students from being released to leaders of a local synagogue involved in a dispute over dismissing its rabbi. The students' messages complained about the rabbi's conduct. The messages played a "substantial role" in a decision by the board of directors of Congregation Beth Abraham to begin dismissal proceedings against the rabbi, Martin Shorr, according to court documents. The synagogue is located in Auburn, Me., while Bates is in the adjoining city of Lewiston. The messages were sent to Steven Hochstadt, chairman of the history department at Bates, who serves as the faculty adviser to Jewish students on the campus. Mr. Hochstadt turned over the students' e-mail messages to the synagogue's president, Arnold Leavitt, and a member of its board of directors, Michael Shapiro, according to the documents. The two directors plan to release the messages to the rest of the board and to Rabbi Shorr. But Bates, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, sued the synagogue, arguing that the students' messages should be kept private and confidential. The act, commonly known as the Buckley Amendment, seeks to discourage colleges that receive federal funds from disseminating students' records without their consent. Judge Thomas E. Delahanty II, of Androscoggin County Superior Court, ruled on February 23 that while the e-mail messages are records as defined by FERPA, Bates did not have standing to sue because action under the law can be brought only by the Department of Education. Judge Delahanty added that it was unlikely that the federal government would withhold money from the college based only on Mr. Hochstadt's having forwarded the students' messages. He wrote that Mr. Hochstadt's "action was a one-time incident, unlikely to be repeated, given Bates' vigilant conduct in preserving privacy." The judge also said that Bates failed to show that the potential harm to the college outweighed the harm to the congregation or Rabbi Shorr of withholding the messages. "If an injunction is granted the congregation will lack substantial evidence in its proceedings to terminate [Rabbi] Shorr and protect its members from inappropriate conduct, and to preserve the integrity of the position of its spiritual leader," Judge Delahanty wrote in his decision. "In turn, Martin Shorr would be denied access to key information used as the basis of his termination proceedings." Bates won a concession from the judge, though, when he ruled that the students' identities should be kept hidden if their messages are disseminated further. "In rendering its decision, the court recognized the importance of student privacy and the confidentiality of education records," Bates officials said in a prepared statement. "The college appreciates the fairness of the court's decision." Bryan McNulty, director of college relations for Bates, said the college would decline to comment further on the case. Lawyers for Bates and for the synagogue could not be reached on Thursday for comment. Also unavailable for comment were Rabbi Shorr, Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Leavitt, and Mr. Hochstadt. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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