<p>As another poster mentioned, many local newspapers publish the names of individuals accused of crimes. While universities may not treat plagiarism as a crime, the content of books and articles belong to the authors, and plagiarism in effect steals from authors. If FERPA didn’t exist, would it be acceptable to posters on this forum for instructors to report plagiarism as crimes and for newspapers to publish the names of accused thieves? If plagiarism is theft and FERPA is protecting criminals, then perhaps FERPA needs to be rewritten so that it does not provide a place for criminals to hide.</p>