Cradle-to-grave federal scrutiny.

In mid-July, the secretary of education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education released a draft of a report calling for "a mandatory registry of all American students throughout their collegiate careers--every course, every step, every misstep," observed Katherine Haley Will, president of Gettsyburg College, in a July 23 Washington Post op-ed essay. "Once established, it could easily be linked to existing K-12 and workforce databases to create unprecedented cradle-to-grave tracking of American citizens. All under the watchful eye of the federal government."

Whether designated the "national unit database" or the more euphemistic "consumer-friendly informational database," the proposal envisions "an Orwellian scheme of collecting extensively detailed, very personal student data," warns Will. "Supporters say it would make higher education more accountable and more affordable to students. Admirable goals, but a strange and forbidding solution. This proposal is a violation of the right to privacy Americans hold dear. It is against the law." It would centralize control over higher education, which the federal government has no constitutional authority to regulate. And rather than making education more affordable, the system "would be an unfunded mandate on institutions and add greatly to the expense of education."