Several University faculty members are violating federal law and do not even know it. Recent e-mail exchanges between administrators and staff sparked investigation into faculty obedience to a University policy protecting the privacy of student education records. Some classes have more than 500 students, where a professor could easily infringe on student privacy rights when returning graded material. Many professors leave graded papers on a table for students to shuffle through after class. The student’s grade may be visible on the front page or concealed within. Professors using this method say returning papers individually would waste valuable lecture time. The potential cost of not wasting lecture time is discontinued federal funding for the University if a student files a privacy complaint. Despite the threat, media law expert Louis Day said it is unlikely funds would be cut because of one complaint. “If action was taken, the government might send the University a letter,” Day said. The University privacy complaint policy stems from the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also known as the Buckley Amendment. The federal government enacted the law in 1974 to protect the privacy of student education records. Any school receiving funds through the U.S. Department of Education must follow FERPA. The FERPA policy adopted by the University requires faculty to obtain student permission before releasing education records with personally identifiable information, unless specified as an exception under the law. The provision also requires faculty members to uphold students’ privacy for any graded course activity – including a project, test, quiz or paper. Policy violations occur if a student’s grade is “openly discussed in class; visible on papers, tests, or projects as they are returned, e.g., passed down the row or left on a desk to be picked up; publicly posted in a personally identifiable manner; or released over the telephone to anyone other than the student or the parents of a dependent student.” University Registrar Robert Doolos said he has been using e-mail to discuss the issue with professors in the past few weeks. He explained there are several ways professors can violate student privacy. For example, he said University interpretation of the law prohibits professors from passing graded material down a row of desks. It also prohibits faculty from placing graded assignments on a table, even if the grades are concealed. “What is to prevent a student from opening your blue book and seeing your grade?” Doolos said. Doolos said supervisors determine the consequences for employees who divulge student education records without authorized permission. Felicia Song, assistant professor in mass communication, said her method of distributing graded material depends on class size. For classes with less than 20 students, she said she returns a graded paper face-down directly to its owner. But she said she does not always have time to do this. For classes with nearly 200 students, she said she writes the student’s grade on the front of the assignment and lets students pick them up from alphabetized stacks on a table at the end of class. She said if students do not pick up their assignment, they can pick it up in her office. Song also said students can go to her office to see their graded quizzes or tests. “If I were more mindful, I would try to put the grades on the back,” she said. “Then students who were anxious about their grades being known by others wouldn’t feel like they were being exposed to others.” Song said students do not get to know her or their fellow peers in a large class. Because of this, she said students are “just a number” when it comes to returning assignments. “The difference between how I return grades in my big class and small class is not about protecting privacy, but in recognizing a student’s emotional well-being,” Song said. Song said no students have ever approached her with privacy concerns, and professors usually direct their energy toward other test issues. “Few of us are concerned about students invading another students’ privacy in terms of their grades,” she said. “We have to spend a lot of energy worrying about plagiarism and cheating and other forms of collaboration not allowed for the assignments.” Song said the only policy she knows of prohibits leaving graded material in hallways. Day, who is also a mass communication professor, said a large class does not mean professors can assume student consent. “You don’t lose your rights just because you happen to be in a class of 500 as opposed to 10,” he said. “The law doesn’t distinguish between large and small classes. The law is clear that one student is not entitled to see the grade of another.” Troy Allen, professor in history and African and African American studies, has a similar policy to Song. And if the “friend” of an absent student requests the missing student’s graded test or paper, Allen said he gives it to the third party if he knows the student “has a close relationship with” the other student. Doolos said the University’s interpretation of FERPA prohibits a student from picking up another student’s work. Even if the grade is concealed, Doolos said faculty must obtain written consent from the student. He also said except for a rare medical or law enforcement exception cited in Policy Statement No. 30, a University official must have prior student consent to release education records to a third party. Day said a waiver process would avoid the legal problems associated with returning graded assignments in large classes. By giving expressed consent, a student waives his right to confidentiality and permits a teacher to place graded material on a public table or box. George Stanley, a chemistry professor, uses built-in waivers. On the front of every exam and graded assignment, Stanley includes a checkbox with the following statement under the student’s signature: “Check the box to the right if you want your graded homework to be placed out in the public rack outside Prof. Stanley’s office. Otherwise you will have to pick up your homework (or exam) from Prof. Stanley in person.” Stanley said about 90 percent of students usually waive their confidentiality rights. For the most recent graded assignments, he said 66 of 75 students checked the box. “Student privacy is a fairly big issue,” Stanley said. “You are supposed to exercise reasonable care, especially if there is a fairly easy way around it. There are probably other ways to do it, but I find this to be the simplest way.” Stanley said he received Doolos’ explicit seal of approval for the checkbox method. Stanley said he is discussing the issue further with Doolos because of a physics professor who leaves graded material in a hallway without student-expressed consent. Jeff Milne, biochemistry senior, said several of his professor’s use a method similar to Song’s, but he thinks Stanley’s method is more effective. “I usually do well on my tests, so it doesn’t really bother me,” Milne said. “But for my friends who do poorly, I can tell it gives them a sense of insecurity – especially in the competitive field of biology.” Doolos said students who feel their rights have been violated have the option of contacting the Family Compliance Office in Washington, D.C. He said information about FERPA and Policy Statement No. 30 can be found in faculty handbook or the Office of the Registrar’s Web site.
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]