Prompted by the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, the U.S. Department of Education recently reworked the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to more accurately define the information universities can and cannot disclose.
The new regulations made it easier for university administrators to contact parents when a student seems troubled or disturbed, according to the education department Web site. The regulations also made it more difficult for other people to access student information.
Kay Rhodes, the chief information officer at Texas Tech, said the new changes do not make everyone happy, especially parents who want to access all their children's information.
"As a parent, I understand that concern," she said, "but our job is to do everything possible to protect the individual. When it comes down to it, that is a problem that lies in the personal relationship the parent has with the child."
She said Tech is working on a way to make some information available to parents, such as tuition bills.
Although the number of identity thefts is rising, Darrell Bateman, assistant vice president for Tech's IT division, said Tech has been able to stay ahead of the curve.
College campuses are easy targets for identity thieves, said Rhodes. Data sits in various places, such as class lists, organization records and documents from different departments.
Each data set has separate databases to hold the information, she said, which makes it easier for hackers to gain access.
"Texas Tech stays a step ahead of the curve because of our centralized IT staff," Rhodes said.
Tech recently made a change from using Social Security numbers with student ID cards to the new Tech ID, which uses a Banner system ID number, Rhodes said. The IT division is working to migrate all information from Social Security numbers to ID numbers.
Although it can be irritating, she said, the 90-day password change is another security methods Tech uses.
"There are two aspects to ID fraud - the institutional organization and the awareness of the people involved," said Katherine Austin, assistant vice president for Tech's IT division.
It is important students practice safe computing, Austin said.
"We see it daily," she said. "These criminals are vicious, and they prey on sympathy and people's hearts and emotions. They have no morals, and we need to be careful."
The IT department does its best to make sure people are informed, Austin said. Sites such as www.safecomputing.ttu.edu give many tips for being safe while on the computer.
For students who are interested in learning more, Rhodes said the chief information office at Tech hosts short courses and roundtable discussions to raise awareness of the problem.
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