FERPA – Scenarios for Faculty and Staff

No.  Under FERPA, a student may not use his or her right to opt out of directory information disclosures to prevent school officials from identifying the student by name or disclosing the student’s electronic identifier or institutional e-mail address in class.

No, a school is required to honor the eligible student’s request to opt out of the disclosure of directory information made while the student was in attendance, unless the student rescinds the opt out request.

Unless the student has given written consent allowing their parent access to their records you cannot discuss specifies of the students situation. You can, however, discuss your grading philosophy in general terms, as presented on the course syllabus.

No, this is not allowed. Distributing students’ exams and papers in this way violates their confidentiality by making confidential records available to the public.

You can discuss information provided to you by the student, such as information from their resume, and information that you have gained in your academic relationship with the student. You cannot discuss any non-directory information (e.g. their grade in a course you taught) without the student’s specific written consent.

FERPA considers campus security officials as employees with a “legitimate educational interest” if they are designated as “university officials” and operating within the scope of their employment. The warrant would not be necessary. Such requests should be forwarded to the Registrar’s Office for processing.

Class enrollment is not considered directory information and therefore requires either written consent of every student in the class, or an official contract between the vendor and UIC containing FERPA specific clauses.

No, not without a subpoena or official court order because they are not affiliated with the university. Any subpoenas or court orders should be brought to the Registrar’s Office for processing.

No, you cannot release the students schedule, unless the student has a release on file. You can offer to send someone to the student’s class to ask them to call home. You may also contact UIC Campus Police or Student Affairs to locate the student if necessary.

Unless the student has placed a confidentiality flag on his/her record, you can provide directory information (including major, degree and awards received). You can also provide personal observations you have of the student. However, without written consent from the student, you cannot relay any other information from the educational record, including grades, GPA, etc.

The only disclosure requirement that is a “must” under FERPA is to the student. All other disclosures, even with a student’s release form is a “may”. The decision to engage in dialog with a parent is up to the discretion of the faculty member or department personnel.

Without the student giving written consent, you may not disclose non-directory information from their educational record. FERPA requires explicit (not implied) consent.

No. Confidentiality does not allow the student to remain anonymous in class. They will be required to participate in all required components of the course.

Since the discussion is only accessible to student in the class, there is no FERPA violation. However, non-directory information should not be displayed on the site. FERPA regulations specifically state that student usernames can be displayed to others in a class even if the student in question has chosen “no release” for their directory information.

It depends. If the comments and notes are recorded in BANNER or kept in a file that is accessible to even one other person they are considered an educational record and subject to FERPA protection. If the comments and notes are kept simply as “memory joggers” and not shared with even one other person they are considered “sole possession” documents and not part of the educational record. Since FERPA grants students the right to review and access their records, the notes that do not meet the “sole possession” criteria should be included in that review. Therefore, it is important that all written comments or notes be factual and objective and devoid of inappropriate value judgments or language.