FERPA FAQS & Privacy Policy

• the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from your education records;
• the right to access your own education records;
• the right to seek amendment of your education records; and
• the right to file a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office regarding alleged FERPA violations.

FERPA rights begin when you enroll as a student at D’Youville. Applicants who were denied admission to D'Youville or who do not attend the institution do not have rights under FERPA.

Education records are records that are directly related to a student and that are maintained by an educational agency or institution or a party acting for or on behalf of the agency or institution. These records include, but are not limited to, grades, transcripts, class lists, student course schedules, student financial information, and student discipline files. Education records can exist in any medium, including, but not limited to, typed, handwritten, print, computer generated, videotape, audiotape, film, microfilm, microfiche and email.

Directory information is information contained in an education record that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Directory information may be disclosed, without prior written consent, unless you have chosen to affirmatively opt-out of the disclosure of directory information.

Directory information includes: the student's name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended by the student.

Students may opt-out of the disclosure of directory information. If you choose to opt-out of the disclosure of directory information, the institution may not disclose such information without prior written consent. Students may not opt-out of the disclosure of directory information in classes in which they are enrolled.

At D'Youville, students who wish to opt-out of the disclosure of directory information must provide a written request to do so to Student Success, first floor of BFAC. The request must be submitted in person and must be accompanied by a photo I.D. The restriction will remain in effect unless and until the student withdraws the request.

Students who wish to restrict the release of directory information should realize that this action could have negative consequences. For example, the names of students who have restricted their directory information will not appear in the commencement bulletin and other publications.

At the institution’s discretion, education records and information from education records may be disclosed to parents where: (1) the student has provided written consent to the disclosure; or (2) the student is a dependent for tax purposes under the IRS rules. This includes mid-semester and final grades which are available to students on Student Planning which is located in Self-Service but are not mailed to the students' homes. Students may request that a copy of their transcript be mailed to their parents by completing a Transcript Request form in Self-Service.

FERPA also permits the institution to disclose information from a student's education records to parents if a health or safety emergency involves their son or daughter. Another provision in FERPA permits the institution to let parents of students under the age of 21 know when the student has violated any law or policy concerning the use of possession of alcohol or a controlled substance. School officials may also share information with a parent about a student that is based o

An educational institution may disclose personally identifiable information from education records to appropriate parties, without the student’s consent, if the institution determines that the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals. Appropriate parties may include: law enforcement officials, public health and safety officials, medical professionals and personnel, or parents.

An educational institution must make this determination on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the totality of the circumstances pertaining to a threat to the health or safety of a student or others. Factors considered in making this assessment are: the severity of the threat to the health or safety of those involved; the need for the information; the time required to deal with the emergency; and the ability of the parties to whom the information is to be given to deal with the emergency.

A student may seek to amend his or her education records on the grounds that the information contained in the education records is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the privacy rights of the student. A student's right to seek amendment of his or her education records generally applies only to scriveners errors, and is not meant to create an avenue to challenge earned grades or other assessment results.

General questions may be directed to the Office of the Registrar or to the office responsible for the information being sought. Comments or suggestions should be addressed to the Office of the Registrar at registrar@dyc.edu, or by calling 716-829-8347.

Family Policy Compliance Office, Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/reg/ferpa/index.html

D'Youville students or parents, as provided by statute, may review any official records, files and data directly related to themselves that are on file with the registrar's office or in the  Office of Career and Professional Engagement. The files available include identifying data, academic work completed, grades, family background information, references, ratings and/or observations. (References, ratings and/ or observations completed before Jan. 1, 1975 or that are older than seven years are not available to students.)

Requests to see the aforementioned materials should be made in writing to the registrar or the director of the Career and Professional Development center, respectively. The records, files and/or data will be made available no later than 45 days from the time the written request is received. Student records, files, and data will be made available to other individuals or agencies outside of the institution only after the student concerned has authorized the release of the information. However, the following are exceptions:

1. Authorized officials (e.g., officials of other schools in which the student seeks to enroll);
2. Accrediting organizations;
3. In the case of an emergency, if the knowledge of such information is necessary to protect the health and safety of the student or other persons.

The following, however, is considered directory information: the student's name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended by the student. This information may be released by D'Youville without the consent of the student unless the student has specifically requested in writing that his or her consent be obtained beforehand. Directory information will not be made available to the party requesting it unless the appropriate administrative officer of D'Youville has considered and approved the request.

A student or parent, as provided by statute, may request in writing a review of information that may be inaccurate and/or misleading. The review will be conducted by an appropriate D'Youville administrative officer who does not have a direct interest in the outcome.

According to FERPA, information contained in the educational records of students who are 18 years of age or enrolled in post-secondary institutions may be sent to the parents without the written consent of the student only if the student is a financial dependent of the parents. (The term dependent is defined in section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code as an individual [son, daughter, stepson or stepdaughter of a taxpayer] who receives over half of his/her support from the taxpayer during the given calendar year.)

A school official is a person employed by D'Youville in an administrative, supervisory, academic or research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); contractors, consultants, volunteers and other outside parties to whom the institution has outsourced institutional services or functions instead of using D'Youville employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks.

Identifying a person as a "school official" does not automatically grant him or her unlimited access to education records. The existence of a legitimate educational interest may need to be determined on a case-by-case basis. D'Youville constitutes a legitimate educational interest as the following:

• The information requested is necessary for that official to perform appropriate tasks that are specified in his or her position description or by a contract agreement.
• The information is to be used within the context of official agency or school business and not for purposes extraneous to the official’s areas of responsibility or to the agency or school.
• The information is relevant to the accomplishment of some task or to a determination about the student.
• The information is to be used consistently with the purposes for which the data are maintained.

It is important to understand several points related to "legitimate educational interest:"

• Curiosity is not a legitimate educational interest. Just because you have access to ISIS and are able to view the record of your neighbor's son, does not mean that you have a legitimate educational interest in his grades and cumulative GPA.
• Simply the fact that you are a employee does not constitute legitimate educational interest. Your need to know must be related to your job responsibilities in support of the institution's educational mission. In other words, records should be used only in the context of official business in conjunction with the educational success of the student.
• Your legitimate educational interest is limited. While you may have a need to access education records for students in your department, you do not necessarily have a similar need to view records of students outside your department. In other words, access to information does not authorize unrestricted use.

Education records are all records that contain personally identifiable information directly related to a student and that are maintained by D'Youville. Education records may be recorded and stored in any way, including: paper records, electronic records, handwriting, print, computer media, video or audio tape, film, microfilm, microfiche, and digital images.

Education records do not include the following:

• Personal knowledge and personal observations.
• Sole possession records – records kept in the sole possession of the maker, which are used only as a personal memory aid, and are not shared with or accessible by any other person.
• Law enforcement records – records created and maintained by D'Youville's campus security department for law enforcement purposes.
• Employment records – records pertaining only to a student's employment with D'Youville relating only to his or her capacity as an employee.
• Alumni records – records created or received after a student is no longer in attendance at D'Youville and unrelated to the student’s attendance as a student.
• Peer grades – grades on peer-graded papers and assessments before they are collected and recorded by a teacher.
• Treatment records – records maintained by medical professionals and shared with other medical professionals for purposes of providing medical treatment to the student.

Education records may not be released without prior written consent from the student to which they pertain. Such written consent must be dated and signed by the student, and must specify the records to be released, the reasons for which they may be released, and to whom the records may be released.

Consent to disclose student records is not required under the following circumstances:

1. Where the disclosure is of directory information, as that term is defined below.
2. Where the disclosure is made to the parents of dependent students. Prior to making such a disclosure, however, you must confirm with the Registrar’s office that the student is in fact a dependent.
3. Where the disclosure is to school officials with legitimate educational interests, as those terms are defined below.
4. Where the disclosure is to appropriate parties in a health or safety emergency. Appropriate parties may include: law enforcement officials, public health and safety officials, medical professional and personnel, or parents.
5. Where the disclosure is to officials of another school in which the student seeks or intends to enroll or is enrolled.
6. Where the disclosure is in connection with financial aid for which the student has applied, received or is receiving.
7. Where the disclosure is made to accrediting organizations.
8. Where the disclosure is made to officials conducting studies for or on behalf of D'Youville.
9. Where the disclosure is to authorized government representatives responsible for supervising the institution’s State-supported education programs.
10. Where the disclosure is made to comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena.
11. Where the disclosure is made to a victim of an alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence or a non-forcible sex offense, regarding the final results of a disciplinary proceeding concerning such offense.
12. Where the disclosure is made to the general public, regarding the final results of a disciplinary proceeding, if the school determines the student is an alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense, and the student has committed a violation of the school's rules or policies.
13. Where the disclosure is made to parents of a student regarding the student's violation of any Federal, State, or local law, or of any rule or policy of the school, governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance if the school determines the student committed a disciplinary violation and the student is under the age of 21.

If you disclose personally identifiable information from a student's education records pursuant to one of the above FERPA exceptions, you normally must first inform the recipient of the information that it cannot re-disclose the information without the student's consent, and that it may only use the information for the purpose for which the disclosure was made.

You must also maintain a written record of each request for access to, and each release of personally identifiable information from a student's education record, which includes that name of the requester and recipient of the information, the legitimate interests they had in the information, and, in the case of a "health or safety emergency," a description of the perceived threat. A written record does not need to be maintained for disclosures made pursuant to the following FERPA exceptions:

1. Disclosures to school officials with legitimate educational interests.
2. Disclosures made with the student’s written consent.
3. Disclosures of directory information, so long as the student has not opted-out.
4. Disclosures in connection with a grand jury or other law enforcement subpoena.

Directory Information

The following is considered directory information: the student's name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended by the student.

Please note that students may opt-out of the disclosure of directory information. If a student chooses to opt-out of such disclosure, the institution may not disclose such information, other than within classes in which the student is enrolled or where a FERPA exception applies, without the student's written consent.

School Official

A school official is a person employed by D'Youville in an administrative, supervisory, academic or research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); contractors, consultants, volunteers and other outside parties to whom the institution has outsourced institutional services or functions instead of using D'Youville employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks.

 

Legitimate Educational Interest

Identifying a person as a "school official" does not automatically grant him or her unlimited access to education records. The existence of a legitimate educational interest may need to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities for D'Youville. In general, the school official's access to an education record should be limited to the information in the record that is necessary for the official to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities. Further, the information must be used within the context of official agency or school business and not for purposes extraneous to the official's areas of responsibility or to the agency or school.

It is important to understand several points related to the term "legitimate educational interest:"

• Curiosity is not a legitimate educational interest. Just because you have access to ISIS and are able to view the record of any student, it does not mean that you necessarily have a legitimate educational interest in viewing his/her grades, cumulative GPA or any other protected information.
• Simply the fact that you are a college employee does not constitute legitimate educational interest. Your need to know must be related to your job responsibilities in support of the D'Youville's educational mission. In other words, records should be used only in the context of official business in conjunction with the educational success of the student.
• Your legitimate educational interest is limited. While you may have a need to access education records for students in your school or department, you do not necessarily have a similar need to view records of students outside your college. In other words, access to information does not authorize unrestricted use.
• The information is to be used consistently with the purposes for which the data are maintained

FERPA gives D'Youville students the right to inspect and review their own education records. Should you receive a student request for access to his or her education records, such access must be provided within 45 days of the request. You must also provide a timely response to any reasonable requests for explanations and/or interpretations of the records requested. You do not have to provide students with copies of requested education records, unless providing copies is necessary so as not to effectively prevent the student from inspecting and reviewing the record.

A student may also request, in writing, the amendment of information in the student’s education records that may be inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of FERPA. The review of the record will be conducted by an appropriate D'Youville administrative officer who does not have a direct interest in the outcome. If the college decides not to amend the record as requested, it will notify the student, in writing, of its decision. The student is entitled to challenge the decision not to amend an education record through the institution's formal grievance procedure.

Writing a letter of recommendation may require express, written permission from the student to allow you: (1) to access the student's education records and (2) to disclose information from the student's education records to a third party.

Letters of recommendation containing student personally identifiable information and maintained by D'Youville are education records subject to FERPA's review and inspection requirements. Students are entitled to review recommendation letters pertaining to them, unless they have waived the right to such review, in writing.

Disposing of FERPA Protected Information

There is no requirement under FERPA that D'Youville maintain education records. However, when disposing of confidential education records (such as tests, papers, class rosters, transcripts, grade reports), please be sure to shred them or place them in a receptacle intended for the collection of material to be disposed of in a secure manner.