VMI Subscribes to software company Tracking college students' behavior nationwide

There is growing concern by students, parents, alumni, and watchdog groups of the growing number of "student behavior" tracking and recording systems being employed by Colleges and Universities. Many of the concerns involve the ability for reports on students to be submitted either by faculty, staff administrators or fellow students into these records. Most systems allow anonymous reporting, creating the potential that derogatory information could end up in a student's FERPA records and adversely impact their student experience and post-graduation employment. CollegeFix published one of the the first significant reports on this issue. CollegeFix works with college-aged writers through the nonprofit organization The Student Free Press Association. CollegeFix aims to identify and support young writers who seek to improve campus journalism, explore careers in the media, and commit themselves to the principles of a free society. CollegeFix published its Maxient article written by Margaret Peppiatt of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. The CollegeFix article outlines the implementation of bias reporting systems through Maxient by nearly 500 higher education institutions, its implications for student privacy and FERPA concerns, and the ability for colleges that use Maxient to expand upon it to meet their needs and track, as mentioned before: bias reporting, discipline, and Title IX reports. Maxient is currently the center of a controversy regarding the collection of student behavior and information to be used in ways that might threaten free speech. The CollegeFix article mentions a tweet by popular psychologist and pundit Jordan Peterson that read "If there was a 1984 prize from the George Orwell Foundation, then @maxient would deserve to win it." and an article by the Wall Street Journal headlined "Stanford Faculty Say Anonymous Student Bias Reports Threaten Free Speech." Through its own investigation of this subject, The Cadet learned that the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is using Maxient. In a series of articles, The Cadet will explore its current and potential use at VMI as well as Cadet experiences and concerns. In preparation for this article, The Cadet contacted numerous Colleges and universities in Virginia, Senior Military Colleges, and Maxient itself with a number of questions and requests for information. Many of the schools contacted responded quickly, in great detail, to the questions. Their responses included hundreds of pages of reports and other documents with some providing the training and instruction manuals used by the staff for Maxient deployment. All at no cost. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) refused to answer any questions on Maxient use or provide any documents under the FOIA stating, "For questions regarding Maxient, we would refer you to the company's website, which may be helpful. Additionally, VCU operates in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which governs student records and privacy." VMI's similar response, from Col. William Wyatt, was only slightly more expansive than VCU's and VMI did not provide a single record or address any of the specific questions covering what may be serious issues with how Maxient is used. VMI's brief response stated: With regard to your questions about VMI's use of Maxient: Maxient is an industry leading software used by more than 1,300 schools across the country. While VMI's Title IX staff is still learning how to use the system, once it is fully operational Maxient is designed to help VMI's Title IX office provide the most responsive care to cadets who are going through the Title IX process. The Inspector General / Title IX officer and her team are currently the only VMI employees using Maxient. As the case management software is implemented in the coming months and years, it is possible that other offices will use the system. However, information is partitioned based on a user's role. For example, someone who is not a Title IX officer would not be able to access case information about a Title IX complaint. Maxient is the newest tool among a suite of student information systems used by VMI staff and faculty. Maxient is fully compliant with all state and federal privacy laws and regulations. Additionally, VMI staff and faculty who deal with student records receive training on the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and are obligated to comply with the law. VMI's General Order 9 details the limited circumstances that Institute staff may disclose information from a cadet's educational record. Under FERPA, cadets who are over 18 have the right to have access to his or her education records within 45 days of requesting access, the right to seek to have the records amended, the right to have control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information (except in certain situations), and the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education for any alleged violations of FERPA. Many of the newspaper's questions regarding the Title IX process are answered in VMI General Order 16 and the Cadet Grievance Procedures that accompany the general order. Confidential reporting of potential crimes or alleged Title IX violations has been available to cadets, faculty, and staff for years. VMI's Silent Witness reporting system is available online at https://www3.vmi.edu/SilentWitness/. The Cadet's inquiries to other schools were treated with greater transparency and The Cadet received much more detailed responses. These included detailed use statistics on the number of reports received and even the reporting formats themselves. In response to questions, Maxient's Co-founder, Aaron Hark, told The Cadet "Maxient makes a software product that is basically just a records storage platform. It's designed around typical uses by colleges and universities for creating and managing records related to a myriad of issues. These often include, but are not limited to, student discipline matters, behavioral concerns, Title IX-related issues, and others. Still, Maxient just provides a system for managing that data; we don't weigh in on its content or how the schools administer the processes that generate that data, nor are we generally privy to such things. To put it another way, and in a less tech-oriented one, Maxient makes a really nice digital filing cabinet that's perfect for holding the kinds of records most schools manage. Our clients, the colleges and universities (collectively referred to as "institutions" in the answers below), ultimately decide what they will be putting into it and how that information is kept, shared, used, etc. We aren't asked to participate in that, and we don't." Hark is quick to clarify that how Maxient is used, or mis-used, depends completely on the user institution. According to Hark, "On that note, it is worth pointing out that our use of the word "system" is meant to refer to our software and is often used as such interchangeably by our company and its clients alike. We've been speaking of it that way for nearly two decades. In recent years, certain specific institutional policies have also come to be referred to as a "system," most notably policies and procedures related to bias response. This is especially ripe for confusion where some institutions instituting such policies also happen to be using a Maxient software system, including, but never limited to, for the purpose of receiving reports in furtherance of bias response." Hark places great emphasis on the responsibility of the schools using Maxient for bias reporting and other areas that are at the center of the current controversy. He is emphatic that these schools, not Maxient, have ultimate control and, especially responsibility. "…worth underscoring," says Hark, "Maxient's software (a Maxient system) is a platform entirely under the control of the institution utilizing it. Just as Maxient is offering these answers herein – not the word processor being used to type them – Maxient's client institutions determine what types of information they will collect, maintain, and utilize with their Maxient systems, as well as how they'll do it." Hark's comments underscore the importance of full transparency and disclosure by schools of how they are using Maxient. VMI's initial generalized response covers only that "the limited circumstances that Institute staff may disclose information from a cadet's educational record are covered by the Institute's FERPA protections", the serious potential issue with Maxient and similar "bias reporting" is not the access, but what goes into the files that can be accessed. Below are just a few examples of what The Cadet found to date in other schools using Maxient. Longwood University provides all students the ability to submit an "Anonymous Report Form for Student Conduct & Integrity." That will be acted on and, most importantly, go into the subject student's records, possibly without his or her knowledge. Of concern in following the link to the Longwood forms is that anyone in the general public can access them and submit allegations against any student. These become part of the student's FERPA records. Longwood's Maxient "Incident Reporting Form - Office of Student Conduct and Integrity" provides options for 31 Honor offense charges and 73 Code of Conduct charges. Honor Code charges range from Academic cheating to stealing. Code of Conduct Charges range from "Advertising and Posting" to "Weapons Possession" and include such examples as "Alcohol Use, Computer Misuse, Freedom of Expression, Hazing, Mistreatment of Persons (Physical or non-physical), and Student Organizations." The "Care Team Report" allows anyone to report students for behaviors infractions ranging from "Academic Stress, Bizarre/Disjointed Thoughts, Depressed/Persistent Sadness/Unexplained Crying" to "Physical attacks and sexual assaults". Some of the most notable among these are the ability to file complaints against students for behaviors such as what the reporting individual feels are "Disruptive Classroom Behavior, Disturbing written material/class discussion, Inappropriate display of Anger/Negative Emotions, and Intimidation" All go into the student's Maxient, and also FERPA, Records. University of Mary Washington (UMV) reported they had an average of 13 bias incident reports per academic semester since spring of 2022. The current Mary Washington Maxient report(s) or other input format(s) used by the school include Incident report used by Residence Life staff, UMW PD to refer a student for administrative conduct action, General incident report ("UMW Concern Report"), concerns related to COVID, students appealing the outcome of the Code of Conduct process, Honor Code violation reporting form, for students to enter a plea following an Honor Code violation accusation, appealing the outcome of an Honor Council process, students to report on their completion of sanctions received from the Honor Council, providing evidence to the Honor Council students who are not enrolled and who have been accused of an Honor Code violation, and Appeal to have a notation related to an Honor Code violation. General incident report ("UMW Concern Report") used by the UMW community to document academic concerns, behavioral concerns, possible Code of Conduct violations, bias incidents, and Title-IX-related incidents. Examples of the behavioral incidents that can be reported anonymously and find their way into a students FERPA records include, without limitation, "Non-responsive to instructor communication, Behavioral concern during class, Disturbed Writing, Heightened Emotional Distress, Unusual Behavior, Email/online harassment, Media bias, and Oral comment". Using the COVID report students can be reported for such violations as physical distancing and face masks. Again, these go into the FERPA records. Reportable Concerning and Threatening behavior in Piedmont Community Colleges reporting system includes such offenses as, "Aggressive behavior, Disrespectful behavior, Disturbing classroom discussion,Disturbing written materials, Extreme rudeness, and Insubordination to college officials." All of these charges can be submitted anonymously and become part of the student's FERPA record. While VMI reports that, "currently only the Title IX and IG Offices are using Maxient," representing possible expansion of use when, as Col. Wyatt's response states, "As the case management software is implemented in the coming months and years, it is possible that other offices will use the system" [emphasis added] should the administration eventually decide to follow other schools in Virginia. Of concern so far in The Cadet's research is that when asked for the current school policy, process, staff instructions or other policies, instructions and/or procedure(s) for Maxient implementation and use all responding schools except Virginia Western Community College stated they had "no responsive records" establishing that no such internal controls exist on their Maxient use. VMI directed The Cadet to General Order 16. A potential area of concern with Maxient use specific to VMI among most Virginia Schools is in the later access of these reports by third parties and particularly for Cadet background or security clearance checks related to military services and private sector employment. According to a certified Facility Security Officer with more than 20 years experience as a DoD Certified Facility Security Officer for Top Secret Level Facilities and the White House, the information potentially collected by some of these reports in Maxient and similar programs could have significant negative impact on students when the enter the job market with the associated background checks. For those going into the military or for other government or contractor jobs that require security clearances the potential issue is even greater. Unfounded, anonymous, or subjective complaints - especially regarding "bias" - could be entered into these records and be subsequently accessed under the existing FERPA rules VMI points to by corporate, government, or other background investigators. A viable scenario is one where these anonymous and other reports could be in the file, unknown to the Cadet/student, and are gathered by the security clearance or background investigators. The subject of the reports would likely not have listed any of this on his/her application not knowing they existed. The omission would almost certainly trigger a "red flag" for "failure to disclose" and then the subject is in the bad position of having to explain and dispute a report he/she had no knowledge of. Especially now, when security clearances and background checks are becoming routine but more and more essential to a career, this issue goes well beyond the subject of the reports. Those submitting reporting into Maxient have to be responsible people who are given specific guidance on what to report so as not to have unintended consequences. Given the vagueness of VMI's response, The Cadet also reached out to Maxient directly with many of these questions focused on system use by schools in preparation for this article. Maxient was much more responsive than VMI and provided the following information, briefly quoted: "Managing processes and records of accusations of academic or disciplinary concerns is the most common use of a Maxient system. Title IX accusations is a very common use of a Maxient system. Records of concern about a student's mental or physical conditions is a common use of a Maxient system, particularly where the institution has in place a behavioral intervention team or rough equivalent. Statements about allegedly biased comments or actions a student allegedly may have made to be placed in record is not unheard of, but a much less common use of a Maxient system. The institutions control who sees and accesses the Maxient system and the information contained therein, to include the time they are on record and what nature it may be used." The Maxient responses confirm information on how Maxient is specifically used must come from the school itself. In this case VMI. While VMI has not been forthcoming with that information Maxient's responses on the potential uses at VMI together with what other schools use Maxient of that is causing concerns makes it more imperative there be complete transparency by VMI in how the system is now or will be used to track and record Cadet behavior information. As we await VMI's detailed response, continue researching other schools, The Cadet will continue to research General Order 16, work to obtain full disclosure from VMI, and seek answers to these questions on this important issue impacting Cadets for future articles. VMI Cadets are highly encouraged to submit a request for VMI to provide, at no cost, their full FERPA record. As VMI rolls out and expands behavioral tracking such requests should be submitted annually. Cadets desiring to follow the lead of The Cadet staff member in making FERPA requests can download the fill-in form at http://cadetnewspaper.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/VMI_FERPA_REQ.pdf or at the link below. Students can also use the FERPA Request Generator provided by the Student Press Law Center online at: https://splc.org/ferpa-request/. Please contact The Cadet staff with your experiences in this area at info@cadetnewspaper.org Editor's NOTE: ORDER YOUR FERPA RECORDS TODAY FROM VMI ! Download the FERPA request at the link below! Links to reference documents and reports mentioned in the article are available on The Cadet Website at: https://cadetnewspaper.com/