This article looks at the frustrating obstacles journalists often face in trying to obtain access to personnel-related records from college and schools. While the law sometimes entitles these agencies to withhold highly embarrassing or confidential documents, it’s an oversimplification to say – as many agencies do – that “personnel” is a blanket excuse for denying a public-records request.
At the University of Oregon, Vanderbilt University and the University of Montana, FERPA was cited to withhold records and information related to sexual assault allegations. FERPA was even cited at Florida State University to withhold records about Heisman-winning quarterback Jameis Winston, who has been accused of sexual assault in December 2012.
An Illinois college refused a reporter's open-records request for the campus email directory. But the state Attorney General says the directory is a public record. Since the FERPA student privacy law doesn't forbid turning it over, state law requires disclosing it.
It’s fitting that the 365-day stink-bomb that was 2014 ended with the U.S. Department of Education wadding up the last remaining shred of its credibility on FERPA and pulling the flusher with both hands. It was that kind of year. Like Pavlov’s dogs at suppertime, school and college legal departments reflexively yapped “FERPA” anytime a… Continue reading FERPA Fib of the Year, 2014 Edition
Education Department served notice it will side with University of Montana in arguing that FERPA privacy bars disclosure of public records in the disciplinary appeal of Montana's starting quarterback
Connecticut has joined at least two other states in ruling that school surveillance videos can be released as public records without violating the federal FERPA privacy statute. The ruling is a win for common sense and a setback for the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA literalism.
Officials at Oklahoma State University announced they will release the names of students who receive parking tickets on campus, one day after the University of Oklahoma’s president said it would release the citations.
The University of Oklahoma’s president announced Wednesday the institution will release parking ticket records, reversing course after OU administrators and lawyers maintained for more than a year that the citations were exempt from disclosure under the federal student privacy law.
As the prevalence of student data collection in educational institutions increases, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act’s use is once again in question. And while the proposed changes may not further restrict journalists’ access records, they also don’t alleviate any challenges.
Both bills, Assembly Bill 1584 and Senate Bill 1177, contain language that supporters say will make timely updates in relation to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — the federal student privacy law — when it comes to protecting students’ privacy online.