FERPA for Faculty
What are FERPA rights?
Students have three primary rights under FERPA. They
have the right to:
- inspect and review their education records;
- have some control over the disclosure of information from their education record;
- seek to amend their education records, under
certain circumstances
When do FERPA rights begin?
A student's FERPA rights begin when the student registers
and attends his/her first class. NOTE: Students who originally sought
admission to one program of study at the college and are denied,
but subsequently are admitted and enrolled in a different program
of study have FERPA rights only in their admitted/enrolled program
of study.
What
are education records?
Under FERPA,
education records are defined as records that are directly related
to a student and are maintained by an education agency or institution
or by a party acting for the agency or institution. Education records
can exist in any medium, including: typed, computer-generated, videotape,
audiotape, film, microfilm, microfiche and email, among others.
Withholding
the release of information
According to FERPA, a student, while still enrolled, may restrict their directory
information from being released. At Clark College, students who wish to restrict the
release of their directory information may do so through their ctcLink account. They
have the ability to place and remove a FERPA Restriction.
Students who wish to restrict directory information should realize that THIS ACTION
COULD HAVE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES. The names of students who have restricted their
directory information will not appear in the commencement bulletin and other college
publications. Also, employers, loan agencies, scholarship committees and others will
be denied any directory information and will be told: "We have no information about
that person."
Parent's
access to a student's records
At the postsecondary level, parents have no inherent
rights to access or inspect their children's' education records.
This right is limited solely to the student. At Clark College, records may
be released to parents only if the student submits to the Enrollment Services Office
a signed release form along with photo ID or in compliance with a subpoena.
Crisis
situations/Emergencies
If non-directory information is needed to resolve a crisis or emergency
situation, an education institution may release that information if the
institution determines that the information is "necessary to protect the health
or safety of the student or other individuals." Factors to be considered or
questions to be asked in making a decision to release such information in these
situations are: (1) the severity of the threat to the health or safety of those
involved; (2) the need for the information; (3) the time required to deal with
the emergency; (4) the ability of the parties to whom the information is to be
given to deal with the emergency. Contact the Registrar for assistance
in making this decision.