It all began innocently enough. In an attempt to eliminate abuses of personal files in grade schools such as the note citing "homosexual tendencies" that was allegedly inserted in the files of one nine-year-old after he hugged a classmate Congress passed a law last month allowing parents and students over 18 to examine school records. The so-called Buckley Amendment on student rights was named for the bill's sponsor, Conservative Senator James Buckley of New York.
But the good intentions of the legislators loosed a storm of protest and confusion in colleges and universities over the propriety of showing parents...