FERPA: A Brief, Annotated History

The Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA), formerly the Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA) has published a short, annotated history of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and an updated FERPA quiz in the Law and Policy Report. The following are highlights from the report.

FERPA grants three primary rights to parents and eligible students:

I. Right to Inspect and Review/Right to Access Education Records
II. Right to Challenge the Content of Education Records
III. Right to Consent to the Disclosure of Education Records

The most significant FERPA amendments are:

• 1990: Congress passed the Campus Security Act (P.L. 101-542), which amended FERPA to allow the release of the final results of a campus disciplinary proceeding to alleged victim when there is an allegation of a “crime of violence” [§ 99.31 (13) & § 99.39].

• 1992: Congress passed the Higher Education Amendments, which amended the “law enforcement unit exception” to exclude from the definition of “education records” only “records maintained by a law enforcement unit of the educational agency or institution that were created by that law enforcement unit for the purpose of law enforcement” [§ 99.8].

• 1998: Congress passed the Higher Education Amendments (P.L. 105-244), which made two significant changes to FERPA. FERPA was amended to allow the release of the final results of disciplinary proceeding against an accused student who is an alleged perpetrator of a “crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense” who was found responsible for a violation of institutional rules relating to those allegations [§ 99.31 (14) & § 99.39]. For the purposes of this exception, final results are defined as “a decision or determination, made by an honor court or council, committee, commission, or other entity authorized to resolve disciplinary matters within the institution. The disclosure of final results must include only the name of the student, the violation committed, and any sanction imposed by the institution against the student” [§ 99.39]. The law was also amended to allow disclosure to a parent or legal guardian information regarding a student's violation of any law or institutional rule or policy governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance if the student is under 21 and the institution determines that the student has committed a disciplinary violation with respect to the use or possession” [§ 99.31 (15)].

• 2000: Congress passed the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, which added a new exception to the statute to “ensure that an educational institution may disclose information concerning registered sex offenders provided to it under State sex offender registration and community notification programs.”

• 2001: Passage of the USA Patriot Act added an exception that allowed “the U.S. Attorney General to apply for an ex parte court order requiring an educational agency or institution to allow the Attorney General to collect and use education records relevant to investigations and prosecutions of specified crimes or acts of terrorism (domestic or international).”

For more information, visit the ASJA Web site to read the report.