Buried in the more than 650 pages of Congress' reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this week is a signal that the federal government has finally gotten tough on campus crime.

At the center of the shift is a nationwide debate over how colleges report crimes that occur-and what the institutions do with student perpetrators.

The implicit message for university administrations: Now, there is no excuse for not accurately reporting how safe your campus is.

Congress even tinkered with the sacred student privacy laws, allowing schools to disclose the results of disciplinary proceedings, that involve "any crime of violence" or non-forcible sex offenses.

"We couldn't do it until this act", a Harvard official said yesterday.

Further, colleges can now also release, upon consent, witness statements to crimes.

Fear of lawsuits led schools to withhold the name of accused perpetrators when reporting internal verdicts on violent crime. But as the new law makes clear, colleges cannot be sued for disclosing such information.

And just what constitutes a "reportable" crime has been clarified, according to S. Daniel Carter, who lobbied for the bill.

Added to a list that already included murder,aggravated assault and robbery are now arson,manslaughter and non-forcible sex offenses. Andany liquor-law violation, even when students arenot charged with a crime, must now be reported tothe federal government.

In 1996, for example, Harvard reported "0"liquor-law arrests, despite numerous reports thatstudents had been disciplined by the Ad Board forunderage boozing that year.

In addition, students convicted for drugoffenses could see their federal financial aidwithdrawn entirely. And schools will be able tonotify parents if their under-aged student commitsan alcohol-related offense.

The impetus for the wide-ranging rules onalcohol and the expansion of crime reporting codesstem in large part from the recent headlines ofviolent crime and binge-drinking on campus.

Harvard stepped up its efforts "once werealized that there was critical political massbehind passing new [campus crime laws]," saidKevin Casey who is one of Harvard's chief lobbyiston the Hill.

"What became clear to a lot of us who followedthis was that it's a classic issue that foldedinto what was the vehicle this time, [the HigherEducation Act,]" he said.

Crime, Contiguous

The problem of geography has long rankled thosewho feel that campus crimes are unreported. Fivepolice agencies have jurisdiction over areas inand around Harvard campuses.