Opinion ID: 461208
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Subjective Interest

Text: 52 The majority has found, contrary to the district court and the record, that Alinovi had no subjective interest in the privacy of the contents of her paper after she submitted it to her professor at Worcester State College. 2 After securing permission from Chris' mother to study Chris and after assuring her that confidentiality would be protected, Alinovi wrote her graduate school assignment using only Chris' first name. In order to preserve the confidentiality of other persons referred to in her paper, including the principal and herself, Alinovi deleted the names of all school personnel and did not identify the name of the school or the town in which the school is located. Although the majority of the court found that, when Alinovi gave the paper to the professor she expected that the paper would be discussed in class ..., the record contains no basis for this assertion. Rather, Alinovi testified that she expected that the paper might add to her professor's knowledge in the field of mental health, and that the professor might take the knowledge of this case, add it to her knowledge of other cases, and use the accumulated knowledge for discussion in future courses. There is also nothing in the record that contradicts Alinovi's testimony that she submitted the paper to her professor at Worcester State College with the expectation that it would not be given to Midland Street School authorities, the only people who would be able to identify the writer or individuals referred to in the paper. After grading it, her college professor returned the paper to Alinovi. 53 The majority stresses that Alinovi did not tell her professor that the paper could not be copied or shared with others. In light of the fact that federal law protects the privacy of academic work, this was not necessary. Students' privacy expectations are protected by the Family Education and Privacy Rights Act (the Buckley Amendment to the General Education Provisions Act) which provides that federal funds shall be withdrawn if a school or university reveals records containing identifying data, including academic work, to persons outside the university without a student's consent. See 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g (1982); Act of Dec. 31, 1974, Pub.L. No. 93-568, 1974 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 6779. Thus, Alinovi's belief that her professor would keep her paper private was entirely consistent with the normal expectations of students and teachers and in keeping with university policy in clinical educational settings. See, e.g., Harvard Law School Advisor 19-22 (Aug. 30, 1984); Cooperative Legal Education Handbook, Northeastern University School of Law 16-17 (Dec. 1984). I must, therefore, disagree with my colleagues that Alinovi had no subjective privacy interest in her academic paper after she submitted it to her college professor. 54