SPJ approves resolution supporting legal efforts to end FERPA

The Society of Professional Journalists is formally supporting legal efforts to bring an end to FERPA, the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, following a resolution passed last week.The resolution, which passed unanimously at the group’s annual convention, encourages the news media legal community to find a strong case to challenge the constitutionality of FERPA under the Supreme Court’s “Obamacare” ruling.The 1974 law requires schools to keep “educational records” private or risk losing federal funding, something that has never happened in the 38 years the law has been in place.

Florida colleges ask court to revisit FERPA case involving student who complained about professor

More than two dozen Florida colleges and universities have filed a brief in support of a Florida college’s appeal after it was ordered to turn over an email from a student about a professor.After his contract wasn’t renewed in 2009, Darnell Rhea, a former adjunct professor at Santa Fe College, asked to see an email between a former student and one of his supervisors concerning his conduct.