Pursuing Academic Freedom and Data Privacy Is a Balancing Act

Recently, undergraduates at Harvard University raised concerns about the institution handing over their data to an anti-affirmative action group as part of a lawsuit. Students for Fair Admissions, which is suing the university for allegedly discriminating against Asian American applicants, will have access to “academic, extracurricular, demographic and other information” from all undergrads who applied to Harvard between the fall 2009 and spring 2015, omitting names and Social Security numbers.

Protecting student information is increasingly challenging in an era when learners leave digital footprints of nearly all of their academic and extracurricular pursuits. Now universities, the overseers of student data, are charged with the double task of keeping that information safe and also protecting student privacy. The two can be at odds. “Universities need to provide students the freedom to explore ideas without the concern that they’re being monitored. That’s important in an academic environment,” says Lisa Ho, campus privacy officer at the University of California, Berkeley.