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I. Introduction

Policy Statement
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, ("the Act," commonly referred to as "FERPA" or the "Buckley Amendment") is designed to protect the confidentiality of the records that educational institutions maintain on their students and to give students access to their records to assure the accuracy of their contents. The purposes of W&L's Student Education Records Policy are: to inform students of their rights under the Act; to inform employees, student workers, third-party contractors, and volunteers of the University's responsibilities under the Act; and to describe the circumstances under which the University may disclose student education records.

Applicability
This policy applies to all "education records" of W&L "students" as those two terms are defined within this policy. All faculty and staff employees, student workers, third-party contractors, and volunteers of W&L are expected to comply with this policy.

II. Definitions

Definitions applicable to this policy to this policy are set out in the text of the policy below.

III. Policy

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 ("the Act", commonly referred to as FERPA or the "Buckley Amendment") is designed to protect the confidentiality of the records that educational institutions maintain on their students and to give students access to their records to assure the accuracy of their contents. The Act affords you certain rights with respect to your education records. They are:

1. Access to Education Records: the right to inspect and review your education records within 45 days of the day the University receives a written request for access, anytime after your matriculation.
2. Definitions
3. Types, locations and custodians of records
4. Waivers
5. Records not open to student review
6. Right of the University to refuse to provide copies
7. Fee for copies of records
8. Request for Amendment of Education Records: the right to request amendment of your education records if you believe they are inaccurate, misleading or in violation of your privacy rights under the Act.
9. Destruction of records
10. Disclosure of Education Records: the right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information in your education records, except to the extent that the Act or any superseding law authorizes disclosure without your consent.
11. School officials defined
12. Legitimate educational interest defined
13. Consent for disclosure
14. Record of disclosures
15. Directory information
16. Compliance: the right to contact the Family Policy Compliance Office with a complaint concerning the University's compliance with the requirements of the Act. For more information, contact the University's FERPA officer, Scott Dittman, University Registrar.

Definitions

Education records: any record maintained by the University which is directly related to a student, with the following exceptions:

School official: A person employed by the University in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research, or support staff position, including Public Safety and Student Health staff; individuals or entities with whom the University has contracted to provide a service instead of using University personnel (e.g., an attorney, auditor, or vendor; the State Council on Higher Education; the National Student Clearinghouse); individuals serving on the Board of Trustees; and students conducting University business (e.g., serving on official committees, working for the University, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks).

Student: any person who attends or has attended the University, as determined by the matriculation date.

Types, Locations and Custodians of Education Records: The following is a list of the types of education records that Washington and Lee University maintains, their locations, and their custodians, with an e-mail link to each:
 

Waivers: When you wish a member of the faculty or administration to write a letter of recommendation to graduate schools or possible employers, you may be asked to sign a waiver to assure the confidentiality of the recommender's observations. If this occurs, it means only that we need to be able to say candidly what we think about your capabilities and potential. Very simply, such candor is in the long-range best interest of all Washington and Lee students and the University.

If you use the services of our career services offices in an effort to secure employment or access to graduate school, waivers are likely to be requested regarding your transcript, your resume, letters of recommendation on file with the office(s), and any other data of natural interest to interviewers.

Waivers may be signed only for the specific purposes of application for admission, candidacy for honorary recognition (including merit-related financial aid), and application for employment. Waivers will not be required and you may be told, at your request, the names of those supplying references. You may revoke a waiver, in writing, for future actions but not for letters or recommendations already in your education records.

Records not open to student review: In accordance with federal regulations, students do not have the right to review the following records:

• The financial records of the student's parents.
• Letters and statements of recommendation for which the student has waived his or her right of access, or which were placed in the file before January 1, 1975.
• Records connected with an application to attend Washington and Lee University if that application was denied.
• Education records containing information about more than one student, in which case the University will permit access only to that part of the record which pertains to the inquiring student.
• Those records which are excluded from the FERPA definition of education records.

Fee for copies of records: When you make a written request for your own official academic transcript there is no charge, except for delivery fees beyond first-class U.S. postage. In order to obtain copies of other parts of your own education records the fee is the cost normally charged students for use of such University equipment. The fee for all other copies of education records, whether authorized by student consent or otherwise allowed by the Act, is $.50 per page.

That University official will reach a decision and inform you in a reasonable amount of time after receiving the request. If your request to amend the record is denied, the University official will advise you of your right to a hearing on the requested amendment, and provide information on hearing procedures. This hearing will be conducted by a hearing officer or committee appointed by the Provost. The hearing will be held before an officer or committee with no direct interest in the outcome of the hearing. However, the hearing officer or committee may be employed by or exist at the University. The hearing will be held within a reasonable amount of time after the request for a hearing has been made. The hearing officer will notify you, reasonably in advance, of the date, place and time of the hearing.

You will be afforded a full and fair opportunity to present evidence relevant to the issue raised. You may be accompanied by one or more other persons, including an attorney. The hearing officer or committee will make a decision in writing based on the evidence presented at the hearing. The decision will include a summary of the evidence presented and the reasons for the decision.

If the hearing officer or committee supports the complaint, the education record will be amended accordingly and you will be so informed. If the hearing officer or committee decides not to amend the education record, you have the right to place in the education record a statement commenting on the challenged information and/or stating the reasons for disagreeing with the decision. This statement will be maintained as part of the education record as long as the contested portion is maintained, and whenever a copy of the education record is sent to any party, your statement will be included.

Destruction of Records: Nothing in this policy requires the continued maintenance of any student record for any particular length of time. However, if under the terms of this policy you have requested access to your education record, the record will not be destroyed before the custodian has granted you access.

1. to school officials who have a legitimate educational interest in the records.

    A school official is:  

A.   a person employed by the University in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research, or support staff position, including Public Safety and Student Health staff;

B.   individuals or entities with whom the University has contracted to provide a service instead of using University personnel (e.g., an attorney, auditor, or vendor; the State Council on Higher Education; the National Student Loan Clearinghouse);

C.   individuals serving on the Board of Trustees; and

D.   students conducting University business (e.g., serving on official committees, working for the University, assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks).

   A school official has a legitimate educational interest when the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her responsibility on behalf of the University, such as when the official is

E.   performing a task that is specific in his or her job description or by a contract agreement or other official appointment;

F.   performing a task related to a student's education;

G.   performing a task related to the discipline of a student; or

H.   providing a service or benefit relating to the student or student's family, such as health care, counseling, job placement, or    financial aid.

2. to officials of another school in which you have sought or intend to enroll.

3. to authorized officials of the following entities, in connection with federal- or state-supported education programs: the U.S. Department of Education; the U.S. Comptroller General; the U.S. Attorney General; or state and local educational authorities.

4. in connection with a student's request for or receipt of financial aid, including determining the eligibility, amount, or conditions of the financial aid or enforcing the terms and conditions of the aid.

5. if required by a state law requiring disclosure that was adopted before November 19, 1974.

6. to state and local authorities to whom such information is specifically allowed to be reported or disclosed under state law in connection with the juvenile justice system.

7. to organizations conducting certain studies for educational purposes for or on behalf of the University.

8. to accrediting organizations, including individuals on visiting committees, to carry out their functions.

9. to parents who claim the student as a dependent for income tax purposes. If your tuition is being paid by someone else, but you are not a dependent for federal income tax purposes, you should notify the University Registrar of your independent tax status, in which case education-record information will be released only with your consent or upon receipt of a federal income tax return indicating your dependency status, unless otherwise authorized by law. We will still require your permission to release transcripts of your academic record to family members.

10. to comply with a judicial order or a lawfully issued subpoena, provided the University makes a reasonable attempt to notify you in advance of compliance (except in certain cases involving grand jury subpoenas) or, when the University is involved in a legal action with a parent or student, where disclosure is to the court, without a court order or subpoena, and is relevant for the University to proceed as plaintiff or to defend itself.

11. to appropriate parties in a health or safety emergency.

12. a. to an alleged victim of any crime of violence or non-forcible sexual offense (as defined by FERPA regulations at 34 CFR 99.39), the final results of any University disciplinary proceeding with respect to the crime or offense, regardless of whether the University concluded a violation was committed.

b. otherwise in connection with a disciplinary proceeding for a crime of violence or non-forcible sexual offense (as defined above), the University retains the discretion to disclose the final results of the disciplinary proceeding only if the University determines that the alleged student perpetrator has committed a violation of University rules/policies with respect to the crime or offense. The name of any other student, victim or witness, may not be disclosed without that other student's consent. Disclosure to any individual other than the alleged victim applies only to disciplinary proceedings in which the final results were reached on or after October 7, 1998.

For purposes of both subsections (a) and (b), "final results" must include only the name of the alleged perpetrator student, the violation committed (rules violated and essential supporting findings), and the sanction imposed (disciplinary action taken, date, and duration).

13. to comply with a court order obtained under the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 for education records considered relevant to a terrorism investigation or prosecution, without advance notice to the student.

14. to disclose to a student's parent information regarding any violation of law or of University rule or policy as to alcohol or controlled substances use or possession, if the student is under age 21 at the time of the disclosure and the University determines that such alcohol/drug use or possession constitutes a disciplinary violation.

15. to disclose information provided to the University under Section 170101 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14071) concerning registered sex offenders who are required to register under that section.

16. to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) / Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concerning an F, J, or M nonimmigrant alien, only to the extent necessary for the University to comply with Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) reporting requirements, as mandated by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, the USA PATRIOT Act, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, and the regulation at 8 CFR 214.1(h). Consent is not necessary for the University to disclose required information to USCIS or DHS in compliance with SEVP reporting obligations.

Record of disclosures: Except where not required under FERPA regulations (34 CFR 99.33) (e.g. disclosures to parents, disclosures of directory information, disclosures pursuant to court order under the USA PATRIOT Act), the University will inform all third parties (anyone outside the University) to whom personal information from a student's education record is released that no further release of such information is authorized without written consent of the student. The University will maintain a record of third parties who have requested or obtained access to a student's education records (not including parties seeking directory information, parties having student consent, parents, circumstances involving certain grand jury subpoenas, and disclosures pursuant to court order under the USA PATRIOT Act), indicating the legitimate interest that each such person or entity has in obtaining this information. This record of access, to be kept with the student's educational record, is available only to the student and the custodian(s) of the record.

Directory Information: Washington and Lee University collects, creates, and maintains information about students while they are enrolled. W&L designates the following categories of student information as public or "Directory Information." W&L may disclose such information at its discretion.

Currently enrolled students may withhold disclosure of directory information. To withhold disclosure, written notification must be received by the University Registrar's Office at: Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 24450-2116. Directory information will then be withheld until the student releases the hold on disclosure. Students should understand that, by withholding directory information, some information considered important to students may not reach them.

If a student wishes a "FERPA block" on directory information to remain in effect after the last term of enrollment at W&L, a separate written request must be made to the University Registrar prior to the end of that term. Such a hold will remain in place unless removed in writing.

IV. Annotated Revision History

Revised August 23, 2000; 2002 (Month/Day unknown, shortly following enactment of USA Patriot Act); October 26, 2006; January 23, 2007; July 3, 2009