ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Some students are wondering how much privacy they still have now that Joint Terrorism Task Forces overseeing counterterrorism include collegiate police officers on a dozen campuses. Paying attention to college campuses and working with campus police to check any tips or leads is one way federal agencies have been monitoring potential terrorist threats.

The Department of Public Safety regularly works and exchanges information with the FBI on different security issues like the ban on flyovers over the University of Michigan Stadium, said DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown.

"Only if any of the law-enforcing agencies, like the FBI, received a credible tip about an issue on campus, that would be investigated," Brown said. "However the FBI could find out public information like details on the [University] directory."

However, students and faculty are weary of zealous federal agencies after the USA Patriot Act was passed in October 2001, which took away significant privacy protections from students, said Noel Saleh, staff attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

"The FBI could really find out anything they wanted," Saleh said. "They are interested in student activists or organizers. Like the divestment conference that happened late last year was an interest to the FBI."

Prior to the USA PATRIOT Act, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 stated that, unless the school had been mandated by court order or subpoena, an academic institution was generally barred from releasing a student's education records without a student's consent.

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