University Policies

Please use professionalism, discretion, and appropriate language when transmitting and/or recording information, either electronically or in hard-copy, concerning students.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), students are given three primary rights. They have the right to ...

• inspect and review their education records;
• have some control over the disclosure of information from their education records;
• seek to amend incorrect education records.

Education records are defined as any record directly related to a student and maintained by the institution or by a party acting for the institution. Any record that is made in conjunction with a student or other school official (e.g., evaluation of a student’s performance) is part of a student’s education record. Therefore any notes, emails, etc., in which you discuss specific students are considered part of students’ education records and are subject to FERPA. This does not include “sole possession records,” defined as records that are kept in sole possession by the maker, used only as a memory aid and are not accessible or revealed to any other person.