Jerusalem high schoolers were in an uproar this week, after police demanded a list of the names of all the students at one high school in order to crack done on drug use among teen-agers.
The controversy developed after the principal of University High School, Hanna Levita, refused to comply with the police requested, saying it violated one’s right to privacy.
Levita said handing over the names would destroy the good names of the students and the good name of the school. The action would automatically place students under suspicion of drug use, she said.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court denied the police request The judge, Bilha Cahana, said the issue is a matter of principle.
“I have no problem cooperating in investigations of specific suspects,” Levita, the school principal, said. “But to ask for the names of all 700 students in the school is a direct violation of an individual’s rights.”
Outside the school, adjacent to the Givat Ram campus of The Hebrew University, students were concerned about the implications of having their names on the police computer.
“There are a lot of students about to go into the army, and they would like to serve in elite units,” said one students. “Any kind of suspicion (about drugs) could hurt chances of getting in.”
Police first submitted the request three months ago. At that time, the education branch of the municipality had no legal objections and several school turned over the lists.
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