Privacy of Records

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 protects the privacy of student records, ensuring that the university will not release a transcript or personal information about a student to a third party without the student's knowledge and consent. Only those data items which have been defined by the university as directory information are released without prior student consent.

The university defines directory information as a student's name, local (mailing), home and e-mail addresses, major, local telephone number, date and place of birth, acknowledgment of a student's participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, date(s) of attendance, degrees, certificates, awards received, the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended by the student. For graduate students who are teaching/assisting credit courses and for graduate students who are employed as assistant residence directors, the work department, office address, and employment category will also be considered as directory information.

The university will make public some or all of this information, unless the student specifically requests in writing that their prior consent be obtained. Requests by individual students to suppress from public distribution the above-mentioned information are to be made annually to the Graduate Student Service Center in person or in writing (see FERPA Privacy Form).

In addition, this Act provides each student with the right to view their academic file and all materials contained within (with the exception of certain letters of recommendation to which the student has previously waived their right of access). Files are kept in the Graduate Student Service Center and in academic department offices. Material cannot be removed from the file; however, if there are any disputed documents, the student may request that a written statement, giving the student's point of view, also be included in the file. Students who request to view their file must complete the appropriate request form and provide proper identification. An arrangement to view one's file can then be made with any member of the Graduate Student Service Center staff.

The Dean of Students website explains in more detail the procedures established by this institution for compliance with the provisions of the Act.