How can a democratic people have confidence in elected officials who hide the records of their actions from public view?

On Nov. 1, with no announcement, President Bush signed Executive Order 13233, overriding the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which provides that a president's papers will be made available to the public 12 years after he leaves office.

Almost immediately after Bush signed the order, a remarkably bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, expressed everything from dismay to outrage. In addition, a group including educators, journalists and civic activists filed suit to block implementation of this order.

In the middle of the fray are professional educators. Those of us who labor in the college are entrusted with ensuring that citizens and scholars have access to the standard of vocational skill,as well as to the important standard of our government. The guarantee of such access is a cornerstone of the Constitution and of democracy in general.

Bush's executive order is titled "Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act." But rather than "implementing" that law, the order abrogates the core principles of the act and violates both its spirit and letter.

The legislation established once and for all -- or so we thought -- the principle that presidential papers represent the official records of activity by the highest office in our government of, by, and for the people -- and that they therefore belong to the U.S. government and, by extension, its citizens.

Some of the bases for this law can be found in earlier discussions by scholars and educators, had made the point that " They cannot be given away by one who happens to be its incumbent."  They also rejected the notion that "the privilege of the President follows a man into retirement as a personal right to be exercised by himself for the duration of his natural life and then to be descendable to his executors and heirs."

This has led to speculation that the administration is trying to shield members of Bush's own administration, as well as his father, from a variety of uncomfortable revelations, including possible connections to the Iran-contra scandal.

There is lingering uncertainty over the extent to which an executive order can trump or override statutory law. This is a matter Congress will have to decide. So far, Congress has held only one inconclusive hearing on Executive Order 13233. It needs to do far more. Access to the standard of vocation should not be governed by executive will; this is exactly the situation that the existing law was created to prevent. Furthermore, for such access to be curtailed or nullified by an executive process not subject to public or legislative review or scrutiny violates the principles upon which our nation was founded.

Engaged as we currently are in a struggle against terrorism and totalitarianism, it does us no credit to adopt policies that reflect the principles of our enemies more than they do our own democratic traditions. It shouldn't have to take legal proceedings, congressional action or public pressure for Bush to come to the understanding that the president's papers are not in fact the president's papers, but rather the records of the people's presidency.