Rafael L. Bras Chair of the Faculty
tel: (617)253-2117 fax: (617)253-4546
December 1, 2003
Dear Members of the Faculty:
I'm writing to bring to your special attention the attached guidelines relating to how MIT faculty and staff may—and may not—disclose information about our students. The guidelines reflect both MIT's policy and federal law.
Recent international events, together with the current social and political climate, amplify the critical importance of this issue. I urge you to take deliberate care to understand and follow these guidelines in order to reduce the potential for inappropriate disclosures that could result in serious harm to our students and possibly to the Institute itself.
1 invite you to address any questions you may have about the guidelines to MIT's Committee on Information Policy at csip@mit.edu.
Sin
A Guide for Faculty and Staff
Policy Summary
and
Frequently Asked Questions
MIT's student information policy describes when, and to whom, faculty and staff may disclose personally identifiable information about current and former students. It also gives students the right to see and to challenge the accuracy of the records that MIT keeps about them. The policy incorporates the privacy rights and protections provided by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (often referred to as FERPA or the Buckley Amendment).
This pamphlet was prepared by the Committee on Student Information Policy as a guide for faculty and staff. The first two pages contain a summary of the policy. The remaining pages contain answers to frequently asked questions. The full text of the policy can be found on the web at http://web.mit.edu/policies/sip/. Email inquiries may be addressed to: csip@mit.edu.
Summary of MIT's Student Information Policy
(from Chapter 5 of the MIT Bulletin)
MIT's Student Information Policy governs the circumstances under which, and the persons to whom, student information may be disclosed, as well as students' rights to access their own records and to challenge their accuracy. As required by federal law, this policy includes the rights and privacy protections provided by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Title 20, U.S. Code, section 1232g, often referred to as "FERPA" or the "Buckley Amendment").
The following summarizes in general terms the major student rights under FERPA. For more detailed information, the policy in its entirety should be consulted. The full text of MITs Student Information Policy may be found online at http://web.mit.edu/policies/sip/, or in printed form at the MIT Libraries and at the MIT Information Center, Room 7-121.
EDUCATION RECORDS / DIRECTORY INFORMATION
Under FERPA, education records include most tangible materials, including computer records, maintained by MIT that relate directly to an identifiable student currently or formerly enrolled at MIT. These include admissions records, grades, most course work, exams, UROP records, disciplinary records, and financial aid records, as well as gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, and identification photographs. Education records do not include Directory Information, as described below, or those records of Institute faculty and staff members that are made for, and restricted to, their personal use. Other kinds of information, such as medical and law enforcement records, are also excluded from the definition of education records. These are sometimes governed by other laws and/or policies.
DISCLOSURE OF EDUCATION RECORDS
A student has the right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
Disclosure Within MIT. Under one FERPA exception, individually identifiable information contained in a student's education records may, without the student's consent, be disclosed within MIT to Institute officials with a legitimate educational interest, meaning officials who need that specific information in order to fulfill their professional responsibilities. A school official is a person employed by the linstitute in an administrative, supervisory, academic, or research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); a person or company with whom the Institute has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the MIT Corporation; or a student serving on an official committee, or assisting other school officials in performing their tasks. In addition, victims of crimes of violence will be informed of the outcomes of disciplinary proceedings about those incidents.
Disclosure Outside of MIT. As a general rule, individually identifiable information contained in a student's education records may be disclosed to persons outside of MIT only with the student's prior, written consent. MIT discloses education records without a student's consent to other schools in which the student seeks enrollment or is enrolled. The student has the right, upon request, to a copy of the records disclosed to another school. Although parents normally are not entitled to review students' education records without the students' consent, appropriate MIT
representatives may consult with parents and others in emergencies when health and safety issues so require. Disclosure may also be made without consent to government agencies or in accordance with legal process only to the extent required by law.
DISCLOSURE OF DIRECTORY INFORMATION
A student's name, term and permanent home address, MIT office address, term phone number, term email address, course, year and registration type, degrees received, dates of attendance, and for an intercollegiate athletic team member, height and weight, is designated as a student's "directory information."
This information may be disclosed within and outside of MIT without a student's consent. Students have the right to require that some or all of their directory information not be disclosed (except as otherwise permitted under FERPA) by following the instructions on WebSIS. In order to prevent publication in the printed Student Directory published each fall, this request must be made at the very beginning of the fall term.
STUDENTS' ACCESS TO THEIR OWN RECORDS
A student has the right to review his or her own education records within 45 days after making a written request to the department or unit that maintains the records, to the Registrar, to the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education, or to the Office of the Dean for Graduate Students, identifying the records the student wishes to inspect. The appropriate MIT official will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained by the MIT official to whom the request was submitted, that official shall advise the student of the correct official to whom the request should be addressed. The right to access includes the right to obtain copies. The right does not, however, extend to portions of a student's education records that relate to other identifiable students.
CORRECTION OF RECORDS
A student has the right to request the amendment of information in his or her education records that the student believes is inaccurate or misleading. Such a request may be made to the custodian of the record, to ihe Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education, or to the Office of the Dean for Graduate Students and should clearly identify the part of the record the student wants changed, and state why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the requested amendment is not made, MIT will notify the student of this decision and that the student has the right to a hearing concerning the requested amendment. Additional information on the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when he/she is notified of the right to a hearing. If the correction is not made as a result of the hearing, the student may include his or her own statement in the record. Because grades and evaluations are the result of academic judgment, they are not subject to this type of challenge.
RIGHT TO FILE COMPLAINT
A student has the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by MIT to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is: Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington. D.C., 2020-4605
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When can I disclose information about a student?
Within MIT, you may disclose personally identifiable information about a current or former student only to those faculty and staff members who have a need to know the information. You may disclose student information to others within MIT only if it is Directory Information or if you have explicit consent from the student to make the disclosure. "Need to know" and "Directory Information" are explained under the next two questions.
To individuals and organizations outside MIT, you may disclose personal information about a current or former student only after obtaining the student's prior, written consent—or when the information is Directory Information that the student has not asked MIT to withhold from public disclosure.
What constitutes a "need to know"?
MIT officials (individual persons employed in an administrative, academic, research, supervisory, or support position) who have a legitimate educational interest may have access to the specific student information that is needed to fulfill their professional responsibilities (need to know) without a student's prior consent. For example:
• A departmental academic officer or administrator needs to know the complete academic records for all majors and minors within the department. However, an individual faculty advisor needs to know only the records of his or her own advisees.
• A faculty member teaching a subject, along with the subject's TAs and the subject administrator, if any, needs to know all of the grades being assigned in that subject and whether or not each enrolled student has completed the subject's prerequisites. However there is no need to know other aspects of the academic records of the students enrolled in the subject.
A faculty or staff member considering a student for a potential UROP. RA. TA, or other employment position may or may not need to know some of the information contained in the student's academic record. The student may not realize what information may be needed. Instead of the faculty or staff member's trying to determine precisely what information is of "legitimate educational interest" and gathering this information without the student's knowledge, the student should be asked to provide the needed information as part of the application process. (Students can obtain "unofficial" MIT transcripts for this purpose from the Student Service Center, free of charge.)
What is "Directory Information"?
The following information is designated "Directory Information" by the Institute and may be released unless the student has requested that the information be withheld from disclosure.
• Name
• Term and permanent home address
• MIT office address
• Term phone number
• Term electronic mail address
• Course
• Year and registration type (regular or special student)
• Degrees received
• Dates of attendance
• For intercollegiate athletic team members: height and weight
To find out what information a student has chosen to suppress, consult the online directory. Address, telephone, course, or year information not appearing in the online directory has been suppressed by the student. A student may choose to withhold his or her information from the directory entirely, in which case no information may be released without the student's written consent. Inquiries about degrees and dates of attendance should be referred to the Registrar's Office.
The Student Directory itself, and listings with directory information about multiple students, whether paper or electronic, may never be released to anyone outside the Institute or placed on a public website.
What about information that is not "Directory Information"?
The rest of a student's educational record is non-directory information. It may not be disclosed outside the Institute without the student's prior, written consent. This information includes, but is not limited to:
• Admission information
• Biographical information including date and place of birth, social security number, MIT ID number, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, and photographs
• Grades, test scores, subjects taken, academic specialization and activities, and official communications about a student's status
• Course work including papers, exams, and communications that are part of the academic process between a student and the teaching staff, and between a student and other students in the class
• UROP and internship program records
• Student's financial and financial aid records
• Disciplinary records
matters. Parents who ask you for non-directory information should be referred to the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education or the Graduate Students Office. These offices will be able to provide parents with as much information as the law permits.
What if I get a request from a government agency, or a court order, for student information?
Faculty and staff may provide information to law enforcement agents, such as the FBI, who are conducting routine background checks only when the agent presents a form signed by the student specifically authorizing the investigation.
Subpoenas and court orders, on the other hand, should be referred to the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education or the Graduate Students Office. Non-routine requests from law enforcement organizations, such as those pertaining particularly to international students, should be referred to the Registrar's Office.
Students often ask faculty members to write letters of recommendation or to serve as references when applying for jobs or admission to other academic programs. May information from students' educational records be included?
Yes, but federal law requires the students' specific, written consent. Obtaining separate, written requests for each and every letter or oral reference for the same student can, however, be quite burdensome. We suggest that faculty ask students at least to send a brief email message stating that that they are seeking employment (or academic admission, etc.), and indicating as specifically as possible the kind of information that may be released for that purpose, and to whom.
What if a student's parents call and ask about their child's record?
MIT has a long-standing policy of communicating confidentially with students with respect to their academic, health, and advising
What if I get a call from a newspaper or television reporter?
Requests from the media about current and former students should be directed to the News Office.
Students occasionally ask me to disclose to them information that I keep about them in my files. Which records, if any, do they have the right to see?
A student who makes a written request has the legal right to see any record you maintain that identifies the student (including copies you keep of correspondence about the student) unless the student has waived the right of access. This right does not apply to any portion of a student's record that identifies another student, or to your personal records as long as these are never shared with, or accessible by. any other person (not even a personal assistant). You may contact the Committee on Student Information Policy for assistance with such a request.
We post each student's picture, year, and term address on our department's web page. Only people within the department have access to the website. Do we need to get the students' permission to do this?
Yes. Students have the right to withhold directory and other personal information from public or community distribution. Permission must be received from each student in order to post his or her personal information to any web site, whether open or limited.
What about my class lists? With whom may I share these?
The instructor in charge of a subject may share class lists, including lists with photographs, only with other faculty. TAs. and administrators assigned to that subject. No information or photographs from these lists may be disseminated further by any of these recipients, nor used for any purpose other than to fulfill appropriate instructional and administrative responsibilities.
Is it okay if I use email to send student information that I'm permitted to disclose?
There isn't a clear answer to this question. Given the current state of technology, it is important to understand that email is not a secure means of transmitting information unless it is encrypted. It's more like sending a postcard than mailing a sealed letter. On the other hand, email is convenient and its use is commonplace. We suggest using email with an amount of caution that is proportionate to the sensitivity of its contents. It's always best if you can ascertain that the student whose information you wish to send understands and consents to the security risks entailed before you send the information by email. It's also strongly advisable to minimize the identifiability of the student as much as possible. For example, if the recipient will already know about whom you are writing, there is no need to include the student's identity. In some cases, the student's initials or first name may be sufficient. Try not to use sensitive words like "grades," "academic difficulty," "financial hold," "disciplinary action," "CAP," "COD," etc., in your headers. We strongly suggest that email not be used at all for sending batches of sensitive data such as lists of students' grades or ID numbers.