News Editor
A freedom of information request by the Evening Times has revealed that Glasgow University passed personal details of more than 30 students onto the police with regards to a bomb hoax, fraud offences and drug trafficking.
The freedom of information (FOI) request revealed that 32 students’ information was released to the police between 2011-2014. Some of the crimes for which these students were being investigated included fraud, a bomb hoax and stalking.
The University stated that this information was only passed onto the police “in exceptional circumstances” and “each disclosure was at the university’s discretion.”
A spokesman for the university stated to the Evening Times that it adhered to “strict criteria” before passing on any person information and that the university considered each case carefully, commenting that over three years, only “32 students out of a student population of more than 23,00” had been involved in situations such as these.
Breffni O’Connor, president of the Student’s Representative Council (SRC) has stated her support for the university in this regard, commenting that the system on information sharing was “pretty robust” and there was “no reason to believe that we are not given proper consideration. We trust the university in that sense.”
The president of NUS Scotland however has expressed concern at this, stating “It is not and never should be the role of universities to be eyes of the police on campus and we would be incredibly concerned if institutions were passing on information about students behind closed doors, without very good reason.”
