Families Grapple with Student Privacy

1. Families Grapple with Student Privacy By: Ninja Turtles

2. FERPA • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 • Stemmed from Civil Liberties and Women’s Rights in the ’60s • Exceptions • “Health and safety” emergencies • Student is dependent on taxes • Drug or alcohol violation under 21

3. “Ferpa is about judgment and the bottom line is that students are building a trust relationship with the university- they are trusting us to keep their information private.” • Joanne Berg, registrar at University of Wisconsin

4. Examples • Since Virginia Tech and Daniel Barclay from MIT in April, universities have begun to side with parents • Last year at Temple, more than 5,000 undergrads signed waiver out of 23,000 • The people who pushed for Ferpa are now parents of students who want the information • Students are now closer with their parents

5. University Policies • No one universal policy • Some universities don’t have drafted waiver, so students/parents must draft their own • Schools with drafted waivers, still are not required to release information, it only allows them to • Parents can call registrar to ask what their student needs to do so their parent can receive information