The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
Student Records
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) permits current or former students to inspect certain college educational records pertaining to them as individuals and to obtain copies. Students are also accorded the right to question the content of a record and to receive a formal hearing if dissatisfied with responses to such questions.
Written consent from a student is required before personally identifiable information can be released from the individual educational record in all cases except tuition and fee obligations and those specifically exempted by law.
There is certain directory information that the College may release without the student’s permission.
Directory Information at the College at Oneonta is defined as the following:
- student name
- postal addresses (not residence hall addresses)
- phone numbers
- electronic mail addresses
- major field(s)
- academic advisor
- dates of attendance
- class year
- full/part-time enrollment status
- degrees and awards received
- most recent previous school attended
- participation in officially recognized activities and sports
- height, weight and photographs of members of athletic teams.
Students wishing to prevent directory information from being released must contact the College Registrar, in writing or in person, to request that a “confidential” flag be placed on his or her record. These confidential flags will be placed within 48 hours of receipt of the request and will be in effect until the student provides the College Registrar with a written request to remove the confidential flag.
The Institutional FERPA Policy Statement, containing complete College policies and procedures for exercising student rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, is available from the College Registrar. Inquiries or complaints may be filed with the Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20202-4605.
Posting Grades
FERPA prohibits posting of grades using student name, SS#, Oneonta ID number or portions thereof. Please refer to the Handbook section on Grading for details. [Use the navigation toolbar to return to this section if you use this internal link.]
Faculty Access to Student Records
Instructors have a right to access a student’s education record only if they are the advisor of record for the student. An instructor who may be deliberating on evaluating a student in his/her course may not have access to a student’s record. An instructor concerned about a non-advisee may not have access to a student record. In such cases, guidance can be provided by the Registrar’s Office (x2472).
Advisor records kept by a department or individual advisor are considered part of a student’s education record and may be accessed by the student. An exception to this would be “desk notes”. Desk notes are those items which are kept separate from the student’s file and are accessible only to the maker of the note. If others have access to those items, they are considered part of the education record.
Employees of the College who demonstrate a “need to know” in order to accomplish official functions of their jobs (e.g., department chairs, program managers, coaches, certain College committees, etc.), may have access to student record information. If access has not been granted, requests for permission to access such information may be directed to the Registrar’s Office (x2472).
Communicating With Parents
It is not uncommon for parents to call a student’s instructor or advisor requesting information such as grades, attendance, progress toward degree, etc. And, in some instances, advisors or instructors may wish to contact parents regarding a student. It is a violation of FERPA to discuss or share information contained in a student’s record with anyone other than the student, unless you have written permission from that student. If you have a parent on the phone who does not understand this Federal regulation, you may transfer the call to the Registrar’s Office (x2472). You may also call the Registrar’s Office for advice before returning a call for student information.
Verifying Student Record Information
The Registrar’s Office is the only office authorized to verify student record information. If your office receives a telephone or written request to locate a student, to verify a student’s attendance or graduation, or if you receive a subpoena or other official request for information on a student, you should direct these queries directly to the Registrar’s Office (Netzer 128, x2472).
- Any requests from the FBI or other agencies regarding International Students must be directed to the Senior Assistant to the President (Netzer 301, x2748).
Protecting Personally Identifiable Information
Any printed material that contains either student or employee personally identifiable information (e.g., name, address, social security and/or Oneonta ID number) must be shredded. It cannot be thrown into the garbage or with the recyclables. Employees who do not have access to departmental shredders may use the shredder that is located in the Print Shop in the basement of the Administration Building. Questions regarding student information should be referred to the Registrar (x3216). Questions regarding employee information referred to the Office of Human Resources (x2509).
Media Engagement Policy
The following persons may engage with a media organization as official college representatives:
The President;
The Executive Director of Communications, who is the spokesperson for SUNY Oneonta;
Any faculty or staff member or other campus employee authorized by the president or executive director of communications;
Any faculty or staff member or employee of an affiliate who is a college matter expert and acting within their official role.
The following persons may engage with a media organization, provided they state that they are not official representatives of the college: Any faculty or staff member or other campus employee who is acting as an academic expert.
Rationale
SUNY Oneonta seeks public awareness and often fields requests for information, analysis and opinion from media organizations. Through their reporting, media organizations can shape their audiences’ perceptions. Because of this, SUNY Oneonta has adopted a policy to guide the college’s engagement with media organizations.
Applicability of the Policy
This policy applies to SUNY Oneonta faculty and staff members and employees of campus affiliates.
Policy Elaboration
SUNY Oneonta is a public institution accountable to several constituencies, among them its students, students’ parents, employees, members of the community surrounding the campus, government agencies and the citizens of the State of New York. The full policy can be found in the Policy Library: Media Engagement Policy.
In engaging with media organizations, the college strives to do all of the following:
- Respond to inquiries promptly and truthfully.
- Gain favorable coverage that can build support for its strategic goals and enhance its reputation among its audiences and stakeholders.
- Limit potential damage to its reputation caused by adverse or incorrect media coverage.
- Develop trusting relationships.
- Protect itself, its employees and its students from unfair intrusion.
- Exercise academic freedom as defined by the SUNY Board of Trustees, and affirm the role of institutions of higher education to create and disseminate information.
The following practices can help faculty and staff members and employees of campus affiliates appropriately share information with media organizations and/or refer media organizations to other sources at the college:
- Keep the public nature of media organizations’ work in mind. Media organizations usually may disclose to their audiences whatever is shared with them.
- Do not feel obligated. You may decline to answer any question, refer any question to the Office of Communications, or disengage with a media organization.
- Notify the Office of Communications if a media organization engages you or you have engaged a media organization. This is especially valuable if there is reason to anticipate negative coverage related to any faculty or staff member, any student, or the college.
- Be aware of liability. Individuals have been held liable for comments found by courts to be defamatory, libelous or obscene.
Only the Office of Communications and Office of Sports Information may issue college news releases. The latter issues news releases regarding intercollegiate athletics; the former issues releases about other college matters. These offices maintain relationships with media organizations’ reporters, editors and other representatives, and frequently engage them.
The Office of Communications also
- welcomes ideas for news releases;
- often asks faculty or staff members to assist with college news releases;
- often asks faculty or staff members to engage with media organizations as academic experts or college matter experts;
- often suggests to media organizations that they engage academic experts or college matter experts;
- will provide upon request guidance to faculty or staff members who believe comments they made to a media organization were reported inaccurately, inappropriately contextualized, or otherwise misrepresented in such a way as to cause confusion, harm, or a negative perception of any faculty or staff member, any student, or the college, per se; Communications may intervene in such situations.
Definitions
“Academic expert” is defined as any member of the faculty or staff of the college who, by virtue of scholarship, uncommon experiences or other specialized learning, possesses extensive understanding and/or knowledge of, or novel ideas and/or opinions about a specific subject matter.
“College matter expert” is defined as a person who, by virtue of role and/or responsibility at the college, possesses extensive understanding and/or knowledge of a specific matter at SUNY Oneonta.
“Media organization” is defined as a person or entity engaged in disseminating information to the general public through a newspaper, magazine, other publication, radio, television, cable television, or other medium of mass communication.
“News release” is defined as a written or recorded communication directed at any representative of a media organization for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy. A news release also may be called a “press release,” “media release,” “press statement” or “video release.”
Contacts
Questions related to the daily operational interpretation of this policy should be directed to the Executive Director of Communications (607-436-2748).
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