Re: Case Studies

Harvey Perlman writes that he is skeptical about my suggestion that non-consensual disclosure of a downloaded record concerning a current student or of information already in the public domain would be a violation of 20 U.S.C. 1232(g), sometimes refered to as FERPA.

I note that the example proposed postulated the facts that the hypothetical professor had come across information concerning a current student during a Nexis search and had downloaded the information, thereby creating a record. Without a doubt, under the circumstances described, the professor has created an educational record within the meaning of FERPA, just as the professor's notebook entry concerning the student would be. That the information was previously published or in the public domain is not determinative of disclosability under the statute either. Consider, for example, a student birth certificate or DD-214 in a university's file. That these documents may be obtainable from a city or county clerk or may be denominated as public records does not authorize an educational institution or its agents to release them in the absence of authorization from the student.

On a related issue, the U.S. Department of Education has interpreted FERPA as prohibiting universities and instructors from making theses, papers, and dissertations available in libraries without the consent of the student author.

Ina P. Schiff, Esq.
<EX249000[_at_]BROWNVM.brown.edu> Received on Tue Feb 08 1994 - 04:16:40 GMT