Current through all regulations passed and filed through December 16, 2024
(A)
Purpose. In
compliance with the university policy regarding the collection, retention and
dissemination of information about students, the administrative policy
contained in this rule has been established.
(B)
Enforcement.
(1)
The enforcement of this policy will be the
responsibility of each major executive officer of the university and the
supervisor of any office which retains information about students. The Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, will guide the
application of this rule.
(2)
The provost will be the custodian and major executive
officer of the university responsible for the implementation of this
policy.
(3)
Recommendations for alterations or additions to this
policy may be made by appropriate student and faculty governing bodies to the
office of the vice president and dean for enrollment management and student
affairs. Questions of interpretation may also be directed to that office. The
registrar will assist the provost or designee in this
responsibility.
(4)
The registrar is required to maintain an up to date
university records inventory of all personally identifiable student records.
The registrar is also required to review and approve all basic forms utilized
for any mandatory data collections.
(C)
Definitions.
(1)
Student. A "student" is defined as a person who has
been accepted into a program of study and has participated in any
post-admission university sanctioned process to facilitate the registration of
classes.
(2)
Educational records. "Educational records" are defined
as those records, files, documents and other materials which contain
information directly related to a student and are maintained by a college,
school, department, office or other university organization, subdivision or by
a person acting for the university or any of its subdivisions.
(D)
Classification and collection of student educational
records.
(1)
The term "educational record" does include:
(a)
The official
academic record composed of documents and computer files maintained by the
office of the registrar. The registrar is the official custodian of these
records and the registrar, or designee, is the only one authorized to speak for
the university regarding them.
(b)
Academic advising
records are the materials maintained in the college and academic departmental
office for use only in advising and/or preparing the recommendations for state
certification. These are not to be confused with the aforementioned official
academic record.
(c)
Discipline records including preliminary notification,
proceedings, results and action taken as a result of disciplinary committee
hearings, are maintained in the office of the dean for student affairs. The
provost or designee is the official custodian of these records and the vice
president and dean for enrollment management and student affairs, or designee,
is the only one who is authorized to speak for the university regarding
them.
(d)
Student financial aid records including application,
parents' confidential statement, need analysis form, promissory note,
employment and other related information are maintained in the office of
student financial aid. The director of student financial aid is the official
custodian of these records and the director, or designee, is the only one who
is authorized to speak for the university regarding them.
(e)
The career
planning and placement center records including applications, resumes, letters
of reference, employment records of work study students, and related
information are maintained in the office of career planning and placement
center. The director of the center is the official custodian of these records
and the director, or designee, is the only one who is authorized to speak for
the university regarding them.
(2)
The term
"educational record" does not include:
(a)
Records which are
in the sole possession of the maker thereof and which are not accessible or
revealed to any other person except a substitute;
(b)
Police records
which are maintained solely for law enforcement purposes;
(c)
Records which are
maintained solely in connection with a person's employment within the
university unless the employment records are as a result of their status as a
student; and
(d)
Health-related records. Records which are created or
maintained by a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist or other recognized
professional or paraprofessional capacity, or assisting in that capacity and
which are created, maintained or used only in connection with the provision of
treatment to the student and are not available to anyone other than persons
providing such treatment, provided, however, that such records can be
personally reviewed by a physician or other appropriate professional of the
student's choice.
(3)
Collection of
student information. Information which the university may wish to collect for
student educational records through any of its offices, departments or agents
directly from the student, whether prior to admission, at the time of entrance,
or at any other time, should be viewed as falling into one of three categories,
as follows:
(a)
Directory information, which includes the student's name,
local and permanent address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major
field of study, email address as directory information, class standing
(undergraduate/graduate; freshman, etc.), enrollment status (full/part-time),
participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height
of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received,
high school graduated from and the most recent previous educational agency or
institution attended by the student;
(b)
Restricted
external, which includes any and all information contained in educational
records not categorized as directory information. Such information may not be
released except under the provision of this policy. Examples of restricted
external information are social security number, identification photograph,
marital status, number of dependents, country of citizenship, campus
activities, leadership positions, academic evaluations, standardized and other
test scores, admission application form and university disciplinary actions;
and
(c)
Restricted external and internal records are not
classified as "educational records." This class of records is normally
associated with special professional services such as mental health, physical
health and law enforcement. The collection, use and dissemination of such
information is controlled by separate policies.
(4)
Prohibitions on
collection. Data may not be collected on political activities or beliefs of
students whether voluntary or not where the possibility of disclosure will
inhibit the free expression of these beliefs or opinions, both within and
outside the classroom.
(5)
A further classification of information contained in
records is made based on the process of collection.
(a)
Mandatory
information, which is believed to be essential to the proper functioning of the
university and required of the student as a condition of attendance. Collection
of all such information must receive prior approval from the
registrar.
(b)
Voluntary information, which is considered desirable
but not essential to the functioning of the institution or any of its
subdivisions may be obtained only with informed and freely given consent of the
student. The optional nature of all responses in forms utilized for such
voluntary data must be clearly designated as such.
(6)
Access. Where
either mandatory or voluntary information is collected directly from a student,
the intended uses of the information, conditions of the student's access,
access of other parties to the data and rules of retention should be specified
in the university's records inventory and when possible on the data collection
form itself or in some other easily accessible manner at the time of
collection.
(7)
Outside sources. When accumulations of data about
students are made from sources other than the student, such as from police
reports, health data, letters of reference and administrative actions, these
should be made part of the university's records inventory. The registrar will
provide for public notice with specific reference to the procedures by which
the additional information is added to the file, the potential sources of such
information, its uses, condition of access and rules of
retention.
(8)
Demographic information. The collection of information
concerning racial, ethnic or religious background of students is often mandated
by government offices, sources of financial aid or other external agencies. In
complying with such official requests special precautions must be taken to
ensure that the existence of data collected primarily for purposes of
increasing equality of opportunities for minority group members does not
violate rights to privacy of individual students.
(9)
Research. All
research activities or experiments in which students are asked to reveal,
directly or indirectly, aspects of their private personalities must be reviewed
and approved in advance by the university human subjects review
committee.
(E)
Release of information.
(1)
Requests for
information. All institutional personnel should be alert to refer promptly to
the official custodian of the appropriate office any requests for information.
Faculty members and the various institutional offices should restrict their
responses to that information germane to their sphere of responsibility in
relationship to the student, such as faculty advisor, major professor or
academic dean. The existence of specific legislation permitting access should
be determined before release of information and all releases must be consistent
with FERPA and applicable local, state, and federal laws and
regulations.
(2)
Information contained in student records may be
released under the following conditions
:
(a)
Directory
information may be disclosed on an unlimited basis by university personnel in
response to oral or written requests.
(i)
Directory
information categories are published on the office of the university registrar
web site. Students are notified biannually via their "kent.edu" email address
on their right to restrict the publication and release of directory
information.
(ii)
An opportunity for individuals to restrict the
publication of directory information concerning themselves is available by
making a written petition to the registrar. This opportunity to restrict the
release of this information will be publicized biannually.
(b)
Restricted information may only be released with the
student's written permission, with the exceptions listed in Chapter 4.1.3 of
FERPA. Following are some of the more common exceptions for release of
restricted student information.
(i)
To school officials with the legitimate educational
interest.
(a)
School officials. Those members of the university community
who act in the student's educational interest within the limitations of their
"need to know"These may include faculty, administration, clerical and
professional employees, university police, and other persons, including student
employees or persons or businesses formally authorized to act for the
university, who manage student education record information.
(b)
Legitimate
educational interest. For the purposes
3342 of
Administrative Code. "legitimate educational interest shall mean an
educationally related purpose which has a directly identifiable educational
relationship to the student involved and underlies the request. More
particularly, the following criteria shall be taken into account in determining
the legitimacy of a university officiars access to student records:
(i)
The official must
seek the information within the context of the responsibilities that he or she
has been assigned:
(ii)
The information sought must be used within the context
of official university business and not for purposes extraneous to the
official's area of responsibility or to the university;
(iii)
The information
requested must be relevant and necessary to the accomplishment of some task or
to making some determination within the scope of university
employment;
(c)
Disclosure to a school official having a legitimate
educational interest does not constitute institutional authorization to
transmit, share, or disclose any oral information to a third party. An
unauthorized disclosure of personally identifiable information from the
education record of the student is prohibited.
(ii)
To complete
transfer admissions forms requested by the student. Only disciplinary status of
students currently on disciplinary probation or suspension, or of students who
have been expelled, shall be released;
(iii)
If approved
research studies are being conducted in such a manner as will not permit the
personal identification of the student except to researcher;
(iv)
If required by
accrediting agencies in order to carry out their accrediting
functions;
(v)
If required by lawfully issued court order, subpoena or
summons, upon the condition that students are notified of all such orders in
advance of the compliance;
(vi)
If an emergency
situation arises where the information is deemed necessary to protect the
health, safety or welfare of the student or other persons; and
(vii)
Parents of
dependent students as defined in Section 152 of the "Internal Revenue Code" of
1954 may have access to their child's records provided they have demonstrated
satisfactory evidence of the student's dependent status, and that the student
be notified of all such requests in advance of compliance; except that release
of information regarding a student's financial account to parents of a
dependant student shall not require notification to the
student.
(viii)
Pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act, the office of judicial affairs will send written notice to the parents of
a student under twenty-one years of age who is found to be responsible for
violating any state or local laws pertaining to possession or consumption of
any alcoholic beverages. The office of judicial affairs will send written
notice to parents of a student under twenty-one years of age when a first-time
serious violation consists of:
(a)
Alcohol negatively affecting the mental and physical
well-being of oneself or others;
(b)
Alcohol
contributing to vandalism, assault, etc.; or,
(c)
Alcohol
contributing to a pattern of substance abuse.
(d)
The university
believes that parent notification is an educational measure that will provide
students and parents an opportunity to appropriately deal with a potential
problem that could result in serious academic, social, and personal health
concerns.
(ix)
Release to parties. The release of non-directory
information to external parties without the student's consent must be recorded
in the individual student file. The release of non-directory information to
either external or internal parties must be accompanied by a warning that such
information must not be passed on to fourth parties.
(F)
Access to records.
(1)
Student access.
Students have access to their own educational records as described in this
policy within a reasonable period of time not to exceed sixty days of the
request. All information in the educational records may be reviewed by the
student except for:
(a)
Financial records of the parents; and
(b)
Confidential
letters and statements of recommendation which are dated prior to the first of
January, 1975.
(2)
Waiver. A student may waive the right of access to
these official records. Such waivers may not be required as a condition for
admission to, receipt of financial aid from, or receipt of any other services
or benefits from the university.
(3)
Individual
members of the academic community may maintain for their personal reference and
use information regarding students. As long as this information is not used in
a manner which conflicts with this rule, such information need not be subject
to scrutiny.
(4)
Right of refusal. The registrar has the right to refuse
to release certified student transcripts when instructed to do so by the vice
president and dean for enrollment management and student affairs due to a
student's noncompliance with a university obligations. The registrar may also
refuse to reproduce, and refuse to forward official transcripts in matters of
suspected fraud or record error until such time that the record is considered
to be correct and the matter resolved. The registrar may also refuse to
reproduce and/or refuse to forward official transcripts pursuant to paragraph
(C) of rule
3342-7-05.501 of the
Administrative Code.
(G)
Challenge to the
content of the records. If. after reviewing their individual file, a student
wishes to challenge a perceived inaccuracy, misleading statement, or other
perceived violation of their privacy or other rights, the following procedure
is available:
(1)
The student shall be provided an opportunity for the
correction or deletion of any such inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise
inappropriate data and to insert into such records a written explanation. A
student may challenge a grade only on the ground that it was inaccurately
recorded, not that it was lower than the instructor ought to have
awarded.
(2)
If the official custodian of the records and the
student agree that information is inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in
violation of the student's rights, the official custodian of the records may
make the necessary corrections or remove the information.
(3)
Upon the request
of either the official custodian of the records or the individual student, a
hearing may be conducted to settle disputes.
(4)
The student
conduct officer will serve as hearing officer. Should the hearing officer have
a direct interest in the outcome of the hearing, the registrar will serve as
hearing officer. The following guidelines are to be followed:
(a)
The hearing shall
be conducted and decided within a reasonable period of time following the
request for hearing:
(b)
The student shall be afforded a full and fair
opportunity to present evidence relevant to the issues raised:
and
(c)
The decision of the hearing officer shall be in writing
to the student, and inserted into the file within a reasonable period of time
after the conclusion of the hearing.
(H)
Review and
destruction of educational records. All persons or organizational subdivisions
of the university maintaining educational records must establish procedures for
the regular and periodic review of all information for the purposes of ensuring
its accuracy and continued usefulness and for the elimination of the
unnecessary and unverified data. A copy of such procedures must be on file with
the registrar.
(1)
Review of potentially useful information. Student
information that is potentially useful but as yet unverified or not clearly
needed beyond the immediate present, such as legal or clinical findings
including personality tests and unevaluated reports of faculty or other college
personnel, should be reviewed periodically, preferably at least once a year. At
this time the record should either be destroyed or a decision made to retain it
until the student's graduation at which time it would be reviewed again. If the
record is to be maintained, two conditions should be met:
(a)
Its accuracy
should be verified by appropriate means; and
(b)
Its continuing
usefulness should be clearly demonstrated.
(2)
Review of
information of clear importance. Verified information of clear importance for
the student during his full course of study at an institution should be
reviewed upon his graduation from the institution to determine its disposal or
preservation. This includes background data, financial information, health data
and other information required either by the student or by the institution to
maintain the active status of the student.
(3)
All records which
survive these two reviews would be retained by the institution for a specified
period of time to be determined at the final review or in perpetuity. Due
consideration should be given to the needs of the archivist as well as to the
rights of the individual student in determining the long term retention of
student information.
(4)
Educational records which are involved in a pending
request for access may not be destroyed until access according to this rule has
been granted.
Replaces: 3342-5- 08.101