Appendix A
Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, is a federal law which states (a) that a written institutional policy must be established and (b) that a statement of adopted procedure covering the privacy rights of students must be made available. The University of La Verne shall maintain the confidentiality of student education records in accordance with the provisions of the Act and shall accord all the rights under the Act to students who are declared independent and who are or have been in attendance at the University of La Verne.
Judicial records are considered as educational records. The University of La Verne shall maintain the confidentiality of student judicial records in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
The most commonly asked question is in regard to who can receive judicial record information. The following is a summary of the Consent Provisions in accordance with the provisions under the Act.
Consent Provisions
No person outside of the University of La Verne shall have access to nor shall the University of La Verne disclose any personally identifiable information from a students' education records without the written consent of the student. The consent must specify the records to be released, the purpose of the disclosure, the party or class of parties to whom disclosure may be made and must be signed and dated by the student. There are, however, exceptions to the consent policy. The University of La Verne reserves the right, as allowed under the Act, to disclose education records or components thereof without written consent to:
- personnel within the University who demonstrate a need to know and who act in the studen's educational interest including faculty, administration, clerical and professional employees and other persons who manage student records;
- persons requesting directory information (student's name, major field of study, dates of attendance, and degrees and awards received);
- officials of other institutions in which students seek to enroll, on the condition that the University of La Verne makes a reasonable attempt to inform the student of the disclosure at the student's last known address, unless the student initiated the request to transfer;
- officials of other schools in which the student is currently enrolled;
- persons or organizations providing student financial aid in order to determine the amount eligibility, conditions of award and to enforce the terms of the award;
- accrediting organizations carrying out their accrediting functions;
- authorized representatives of the Controller General of the United States, the Secretary of the Department of Education, and state education authorities only if the information is necessary for audit and evaluation of federal-and state-supported programs;
- state and federal officials to whom disclosure is required by state statute adopted prior to November 19, 1974;
- organizations conducting studies to develop, validate, and administer predictive tests, to administer student aid programs, or to improve instruction, so long as there is no further external disclosure of personally identifiable information and the information is destroyed when no longer necessary for the projects;
- parents of a dependent student who have established that student's status as a dependent according to Internal Revenue Code of 1954, Section 152 (as amended). This requires a certified copy of the parent's most recent Federal Income Tax Form;
- persons in compliance with a judicial order or a lawfully issued subpoena if reasonable effort is made to notify the student;
- victims of sexual or physical assaults may be notified of the judicial sanction imposed on the student found responsible for the assault;
- appropriate persons in a health or safety emergency, so long as (1) there is a serious threat to student or others, (2) the knowledge of the information is necessary to meet the emergency, (3) time is of the essence, and (4) the persons to whom the information is disclosed are in a position to deal with the emergency.
For a copy of the entire act, please see the Dean of Student Affairs Office, the Associate Dean of Student Affairs Office, or the Director of Housing and Residential Life
