Long Island University at Brooklyn removed the faculty adviser of its weekly student newspaper, Seawanhaka, after the paper published the grades of a former student leader late last month. University officials also temporarily removed the newspaper's student editor and changed the locks on the Seawanhaka office.

The university contends the newspaper violated the student's privacy in publishing personal information, although journalism experts are defending the legality of the disclosure.

The shake-up involves a January 21 article about the resignation of the student-government president, Abdel Alileala. In the article, Mr. Alileala cited "personal problems" as reasons for stepping down.

"There has been speculation," the article continued, "that Alileala's academic struggles last year are the reason for his decision to resign." Mr. Alileala's grades in six classes, which included two failing marks, followed. The article did not contain a comment from Mr. Alileala about the grades. Obtaining a response to accusations or unfavorable comments is a standard practice in journalism.

Justin Grant, the author of the article and the newspaper's editor, said he had obtained information about Mr. Alileala's grades from another reporter hours before his deadline. Mr. Grant, a junior, said that the reporter had confirmed the information with several student sources and that the newspaper had not obtained Mr. Alileala's official academic transcript.

"I stand by my work," Mr. Grant said. "The only thing I probably would have done differently would have been to let [Mr. Alileala] know we had the information after we got it."

Mr. Alileala did not return telephone messages left this week at a number provided by a member of the university's student government.

Both Mr. Grant and G. Michael Bush, the ousted adviser of the newspaper, said students had a right to know about the grades because Mr. Alileala was an elected official and a public figure, to whom laws do not accord the same degree of privacy as they do to ordinary citizens. "It would have been wrong," Mr. Grant said, "if it had been John Q. Public student."

The decision was journalistically sound because the grades "were obtained legally and published accurately," said Mr. Bush, who remains a professor of journalism at the university.

Some administrators, however, disagree. In a February 3 letter to Mr. Bush, David Cohen, a dean at the university, suggested that the adviser had violated "federal regulations" by directing students to publish the grades.

But Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit group, said that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects most student records, "is a limitation solely on the university."

The U.S. Department of Education has previously stated that the law, commonly known as Ferpa, was not intended to apply to campus newspapers.

Mr. Goodman also cited Bilney v. Evening Star, a 1979 case in which a Maryland court held that it was not an invasion of privacy for a college newspaper to publish the grades of members of a university's basketball team because the athletes were public figures.

Bernadette Walker, the university's dean of students, did not return a telephone call to her office. A statement released by the university said that the administration was investigating the incident and reviewing editorial procedures, "to ensure that they safeguard our students' confidential information."

Peg Byron, a spokeswoman for the university, said the Seawanhaka, which did not come out this week, would resume publishing this semester under a new supervisor.

Mr. Grant, who receives a tuition discount as editor of the newspaper, said his suspension is effective until the end of February.

In an opinion column that appeared in the January 28 issue of the Seawanhaka, Mr. Grant apologized for the "hurt and embarrassment" the article may have caused Mr. Alileala and his family.

"In spite of the gathering storm clouds though, this year's Seawanhaka staff has set out to take this newspaper to the next level," Mr. Grant wrote. "We are not just a student club, we are a newspaper."