WASHINGTON, D.C. — Miami University of Ohio will beginreleasing student disciplinary records to the school’s studentnewspaper and others following a Dec. 8 decision by the U.S. SupremeCourt not to hear an appeal by the university.
The ruling ends a two-year legal battle to obtain the recordsby The Miami Student, Miami University’s student newspaper,and follows a decision last July by the Ohio Supreme Court thatordered the school to release university disciplinary board records.The newspaper had requested access only to records involving non-academic,criminal misconduct.
The Ohio court had rejected the university’s claim that therecords were protected by the Family Educational Rights and PrivacyAct (FERPA), a federal law also known as the Buckley Amendment,which prevents schools from releasing students’ “educationrecords” without consent.
The July decision was the second time a state’s highest courthad rejected the Buckley Amendment excuse and ruled that campuscourt records were public under a state’s freedom of informationlaw. In a 1993 case, Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled that campuscourt hearings and records at the University of Georgia were opento the public.