University Times

FERPA, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that protects the privacy of student educational records, “is one of the most important things we ought to be aware of” as Pitt employees, said University Registrar Patricia Mathay.

Mathay spoke at the Oct. 9 Human Resources workshop, “Student Privacy and FERPA.”

Pamela Connelly, associate general counsel in the Office of General Counsel and the workshop’s co-presenter, outlined the rights FERPA gives to currently and formerly enrolled higher-education students:

• the right to inspect and review their records;
• the right to limit their records’ disclosure during their lifetime, and
• the right to petition to correct those records.

While FERPA governs students’ rights, staff and faculty ought to know what those rights are so they understand how to handle student records, Connelly said — and “new questions pop up all the time.”

Educational records are anything in any medium possessed by the University that has information directly related to the student and is accessible to or shared by multiple University employees. The complete record may be held in several parts by separate Pitt offices, including the electronic portion of the student’s educational record created for those attending Pitt since 1990.

Such things as faculty notes on a student, which are in the sole possession of one employee, are not part of the educational record — but be wary of what constitutes shared information today, Mathay cautioned.

“If you share information in an email about a student” using your Pitt email account, she said, that becomes part of the educational record. “As my dad taught me years ago,” added Connelly, “don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mom to see. It’s okay to be factual.” She advised against putting in writing, including in a Pitt email exchange, anything that is judgmental or name calling.

FERPA does not cover records relating to a student’s employment by the University (unless it is a work-study job), medical or alumni-office records, peer-graded papers and law enforcement or campus security records.

“This is a little bit of a danger zone,” Connelly warned. If a Pitt employee acquires a student’s police or medical records, for instance, and places them with other materials in the educational record, those once-separate records become part of the student’s educational records, and are thus now all part of the materials covered under FERPA.

“So even if something was shared with you (alone), be careful about adding it to an office’s shared record,” Mathay said.

Students may review their own records with a written request to the appropriate record custodian, who might be a school or department administrator, an official of the Registrar’s office or a student conduct office administrator. If confidential letters of recommendation or a student’s parents’ financial records are part of their educational record, those items must be removed before any review.

“Let’s not give them everything,” Connelly advised those at the workshop. “Let’s carefully keep it to what they are requesting. If their parents are paying for college but Johnny doesn’t think his allowance is enough, Johnny is not allowed to snoop around in the (parents’ financial) records.”

Nor is Johnny entitled to copies of his record. Within 45 days of any request, the University is obligated to allow the student to inspect the record in the office where it is housed. The student also may view the record in another institution, such as a college or law firm in the student’s town of residence, with which Pitt might make arrangements.

Students may not use FERPA to challenge a grade that they have legitimately earned — only errors in the record. Connelly could recall no such requests to correct an error in a record in her 12 years here.

There are exceptions under FERPA that allow student records to be disclosed to faculty, staff or others. The most common exception covers University employees, including administrators, with a “legitimate educational interest” in viewing the record.

“You probably exercise this discretion 50 times a day without knowing it,” Connelly allowed, though she noted that employees of one school don’t often have a “legitimate educational interest” for seeing the records of students in other schools.

Other instances in which Pitt is permitted to disclose student records:

• To educational authorities conducting audits or evaluations.
• To those conducting a disciplinary hearing concerning an alleged crime of violence, such as an assault or a sex offense.
• To educational institutions in which a student is seeking to enroll or has enrolled after Pitt.
• Under a subpoena.
• In a health or safety emergency, such as an on-campus shooting.

“The government has said that they don’t want FERPA to be the reason people aren’t safe,” Connelly said of the last exception. Thus, records also may be examined by Pitt employees who fear that a dangerous situation may stem from the specific conduct of a particular student; this is deemed a “legitimate educational interest.” “You can’t be acting on stereotypes … you can’t be acting on gut feelings,” she added. But such examinations are allowed with proper cause, even if the suspicion that a situation is dangerous turns out to be wrong in the end.

The University also is permitted to give out what is labeled “directory information”: a student’s name, address, telephone number, place of birth (although Pitt does not normally collect this), major, degrees and awards received, previous educational institutions attended, participation in the University’s officially recognized activities and sports, an athlete’s weight and height, dates of attendance, email address and photograph.

Typically Pitt withholds even the directory information if it is being requested for a sales solicitation, for instance. Pitt generally does provide names and addresses of students to elected officials who want to send letters to constituents.

“You may give out the information,” Mathay emphasizes, but employees are not required to give it out.

However, students can restrict the University from releasing all, but not selected parts, of this information.

“We don’t have a ton of them,” says Mathay of those who have requested such restrictions. Students and former students usually make the request if they have been the victim of ID theft or don’t want parents or others to look around in their records. If they do request such restrictions, they need to come in personally with their ID to have anything released — for instance, to a potential employer to whom the former student is applying.

Students who have requested that their directory information not be released have a window-shade symbol in the corner of their entry in PeopleSoft.

Under FERPA, the University also must keep a record of requests for each student’s records, although Mathay says Pitt has not been asked to produce this tally in her two years as registrar.

FERPA applies not only to U.S. citizens but to foreign-born students as well. Mathay’s office does get many requests for information on international students, particularly from organizations or government agencies sponsoring these students. There is a special form students must sign to consent to such requests.

The University is required to inform students annually of their FERPA rights, which often is done by advertising in The Pitt News.

If a student wishes to allow his/her record to be disclosed voluntarily to a specific third party, the student must indicate that in writing. A parent, guardian or other designee may come in to examine a student’s records, but only if the University has a signed letter on file authorizing such a move.

“Anybody can walk in with a piece of paper and say, ‘I have a release,’” Mathay cautioned. “We’re going to contact legal counsel and say, ‘Have a seat, while we check on this.’

“It’s best if you err on the side of caution” when it comes to fulfilling educational records requests, she concludes. “Take your time and make sure before you do anything that it is the right thing to do.”

Pitt faculty and staff with questions about FERPA should contact the Registrar’s office at 412/624-7600 or the Office of General Counsel at 412/624-5674. Information about FERPA also is housed on the websites of each office.

FERPA, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that protects the privacy of student educational records, “is one of the most important things we ought to be aware of” as Pitt employees, said University Registrar Patricia Mathay.

Mathay spoke at the Oct. 9 Human Resources workshop, “Student Privacy and FERPA.”

Pamela Connelly, associate general counsel in the Office of General Counsel and the workshop’s co-presenter, outlined the rights FERPA gives to currently and formerly enrolled higher-education students:

• the right to inspect and review their records;
• the right to limit their records’ disclosure during their lifetime, and
• the right to petition to correct those records.

While FERPA governs students’ rights, staff and faculty ought to know what those rights are so they understand how to handle student records, Connelly said — and “new questions pop up all the time.”

Educational records are anything in any medium possessed by the University that has information directly related to the student and is accessible to or shared by multiple University employees. The complete record may be held in several parts by separate Pitt offices, including the electronic portion of the student’s educational record created for those attending Pitt since 1990.

Such things as faculty notes on a student, which are in the sole possession of one employee, are not part of the educational record — but be wary of what constitutes shared information today, Mathay cautioned.

“If you share information in an email about a student” using your Pitt email account, she said, that becomes part of the educational record. “As my dad taught me years ago,” added Connelly, “don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mom to see. It’s okay to be factual.” She advised against putting in writing, including in a Pitt email exchange, anything that is judgmental or name calling.

FERPA does not cover records relating to a student’s employment by the University (unless it is a work-study job), medical or alumni-office records, peer-graded papers and law enforcement or campus security records.

“This is a little bit of a danger zone,” Connelly warned. If a Pitt employee acquires a student’s police or medical records, for instance, and places them with other materials in the educational record, those once-separate records become part of the student’s educational records, and are thus now all part of the materials covered under FERPA.

“So even if something was shared with you (alone), be careful about adding it to an office’s shared record,” Mathay said.

Students may review their own records with a written request to the appropriate record custodian, who might be a school or department administrator, an official of the Registrar’s office or a student conduct office administrator. If confidential letters of recommendation or a student’s parents’ financial records are part of their educational record, those items must be removed before any review.

“Let’s not give them everything,” Connelly advised those at the workshop. “Let’s carefully keep it to what they are requesting. If their parents are paying for college but Johnny doesn’t think his allowance is enough, Johnny is not allowed to snoop around in the (parents’ financial) records.”

Nor is Johnny entitled to copies of his record. Within 45 days of any request, the University is obligated to allow the student to inspect the record in the office where it is housed. The student also may view the record in another institution, such as a college or law firm in the student’s town of residence, with which Pitt might make arrangements.

Students may not use FERPA to challenge a grade that they have legitimately earned — only errors in the record. Connelly could recall no such requests to correct an error in a record in her 12 years here.

There are exceptions under FERPA that allow student records to be disclosed to faculty, staff or others. The most common exception covers University employees, including administrators, with a “legitimate educational interest” in viewing the record.

“You probably exercise this discretion 50 times a day without knowing it,” Connelly allowed, though she noted that employees of one school don’t often have a “legitimate educational interest” for seeing the records of students in other schools.

Other instances in which Pitt is permitted to disclose student records:

• To educational authorities conducting audits or evaluations.
• To those conducting a disciplinary hearing concerning an alleged crime of violence, such as an assault or a sex offense.
• To educational institutions in which a student is seeking to enroll or has enrolled after Pitt.
• Under a subpoena.
• In a health or safety emergency, such as an on-campus shooting.

“The government has said that they don’t want FERPA to be the reason people aren’t safe,” Connelly said of the last exception. Thus, records also may be examined by Pitt employees who fear that a dangerous situation may stem from the specific conduct of a particular student; this is deemed a “legitimate educational interest.” “You can’t be acting on stereotypes … you can’t be acting on gut feelings,” she added. But such examinations are allowed with proper cause, even if the suspicion that a situation is dangerous turns out to be wrong in the end.

The University also is permitted to give out what is labeled “directory information”: a student’s name, address, telephone number, place of birth (although Pitt does not normally collect this), major, degrees and awards received, previous educational institutions attended, participation in the University’s officially recognized activities and sports, an athlete’s weight and height, dates of attendance, email address and photograph.

Typically Pitt withholds even the directory information if it is being requested for a sales solicitation, for instance. Pitt generally does provide names and addresses of students to elected officials who want to send letters to constituents.

“You may give out the information,” Mathay emphasizes, but employees are not required to give it out.

However, students can restrict the University from releasing all, but not selected parts, of this information.

“We don’t have a ton of them,” says Mathay of those who have requested such restrictions. Students and former students usually make the request if they have been the victim of ID theft or don’t want parents or others to look around in their records. If they do request such restrictions, they need to come in personally with their ID to have anything released — for instance, to a potential employer to whom the former student is applying.

Students who have requested that their directory information not be released have a window-shade symbol in the corner of their entry in PeopleSoft.

Under FERPA, the University also must keep a record of requests for each student’s records, although Mathay says Pitt has not been asked to produce this tally in her two years as registrar.

FERPA applies not only to U.S. citizens but to foreign-born students as well. Mathay’s office does get many requests for information on international students, particularly from organizations or government agencies sponsoring these students. There is a special form students must sign to consent to such requests.

The University is required to inform students annually of their FERPA rights, which often is done by advertising in The Pitt News.

If a student wishes to allow his/her record to be disclosed voluntarily to a specific third party, the student must indicate that in writing. A parent, guardian or other designee may come in to examine a student’s records, but only if the University has a signed letter on file authorizing such a move.

“Anybody can walk in with a piece of paper and say, ‘I have a release,’” Mathay cautioned. “We’re going to contact legal counsel and say, ‘Have a seat, while we check on this.’

“It’s best if you err on the side of caution” when it comes to fulfilling educational records requests, she concludes. “Take your time and make sure before you do anything that it is the right thing to do.”

Pitt faculty and staff with questions about FERPA should contact the Registrar’s office at 412/624-7600 or the Office of General Counsel at 412/624-5674. Information about FERPA also is housed on the websites of each office.

—Marty Levine