Educational privacy or informational lockdown

A small college in Florida requires every faculty member, staff person, and administrator to sign a very stringent confidentiality agreement that apparently prohibits them from discussing anything that happens on campus. Is this about privacy, or about control over information? Does this protect employee or student privacy, or does it protect the administration of the college from criticism and chill public debate about campus policies?

The Edward Waters agreement, revised this month, is mandatory and classifies all on-campus material as confidential data. That includes employee records, policy documents and even in-class material unless otherwise approved for release.

Faculty, staff and administrators are all included, and any violations can be met with a daily $5,000 fine and additional legal action.