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Working with students in higher education and keeping their documents protected is crucial. According to the Constitutional law this gives the states the decision to regulate their own rules for education. I worked in the TSI - Texas Success initiative office for 4.5 years and helped students with processing, testing, and advising students on how their score placed them in developmental or college level courses. I had to protect students records by making sure if parents called in to check with FERPA regulations and guidelines and not give out student information unless the student granted their parents  permission. (U.S. Const. amend. x)

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College student confidentiality is an important aspect for my future role in Student Affairs - career counseling by protecting students information from the public, employers, and recruiters. Under FERPA students have the right to have their information protected from any employer that is requesting information. It's the University or colleges duty to protect  the student from harm, violence, and negligence. If the university fails to protect the students information this is considered a breach of duty.
Best Practices include the following
1. not giving out student GPA, Date of birth, street address, phone numbers to employers/recruiters requesting a list of students info for best candidates.
2. allow students to explore handshake job search website. students have the option to choose private or public so recruiters and employers can view their personal information.
3. Angelo State has the right to to deny an employer, advertiser, posting, that is not in the best interest of the student.
A current emerging issue is small to large employers believe they can request student data with out being told no. This can cause issues with communication and lack of understanding between the employer and university. The student is considered an adult and 18+ but the university still has an obligation to deny an employer requesting confidential information.
Person interviewed
- Julie Ruthenbeck
- Career Services Director with Angelo State https://www.angelo.edu/live/profiles/751-julie-ruthenbeck

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The Buckley Amendment is legislative that allows universities to define the specific communication between student and parent (20 U.S.C. § 1232g). The Buckley Amendment or FERPA in NASPA by Weeks (2001) "provides significant privacy protections to colleges and students. Furthermore, students benefit from these protections through established rights of access, consent, challenge, and notification. This allows the student to choose a method of protection through verification, privacy, and communication.
This relates to college student affairs by students sharing personal records with organizations, greek life, and student serving positions or student government. According to Weeks , "organizations that perform accredited functions may also receive student record information in order to carry out their functions. (p.44).

Below is the link for more information on the Buckley Amendment and student privacy rights.
https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/WeeksK_2001_Family-Friendly_FERPA_Policies.pdf

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The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused a large amount of college students to attend courses online via zoom. This can create uncertainty with incoming, current, and future students with keeping information confidential with standards related towards FERPA. According to Inside Higher Ed by St. Amour (2020)  "Colleges are allowed to use contractors and consultants for services - including for online instruction but the contracts need to include stipulations to protect student privacy under the law. Most importantly if the vendor collects any data on its users the college has to be the owner of that information. This means the data can only be used or re-disclosed at the colleges direction" (p.1). This can create a gray area with privacy by not knowing whether the consultants such as a wellness coordinator is using/recording student information for other purposes. Overall, there is not way to track to see if these contractors are violating FERPA regulations.

Below is the article for Privacy and the online Pivot https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/25/pivot-online-raises-concerns-ferpa-surveillance

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Most colleges and universities across the country have pivoted to remote learning in an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe.

While the sudden change is necessary, some privacy experts worry about the unintended consequences.

Ensuring the software colleges are now using doesn't violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, is one key issue, according to Amelia Vance, director of youth and education privacy at the Future of Privacy Forum. Another issue is the potential for increased surveillance of students as colleges switch from in-person classes to virtual ones.
Data Collection
FERPA is technology neutral, according to Leroy Rooker, a senior fellow at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Colleges are allowed to use contractors and consultants for services -- including for online instruction -- but the contracts need to include stipulations to protect student privacy under the law.

Most importantly, if the vendor collects any data on its users, the college has to be the owner of that information. This means that the data can only be used or redisclosed at the college's direction.

Colleges should be thinking about whether any FERPA-protected information will be revealed in their pivots to remote learning, said Joanna Lyn Grama, associate vice president at Vantage Technology Consulting Group.

"Is there FERPA-protected information that the online provider is potentially creating or storing that's distinct from the school's?" Grama said.

Metadata could be another area of concern, she said. While that data might not be personal information under FERPA, it could be a tool for someone to get personal information.

If colleges are operating under existing contracts with these companies, Grama said, they're likely safe because they took the time for review before the pandemic hit. If they're creating new contracts, those agreements likely are short term, which will give colleges a chance to go back and review them to ensure they're compliant once things settle down.

Some have concern over Zoom Video Communications Inc., a web-conferencing platform that many faculty members are now using to connect with students virtually.

Zoom does not sell its data to anyone and is compliant with FERPA, according to emailed responses the company sent to Inside Higher Ed.

"We take our users' privacy incredibly seriously. Zoom only collects user data to the extent it is absolutely necessary to provide technical and operational support, and to improve our services. Zoom must collect technical information like users' IP address, OS details and device details in order for our service to function properly. When user data is used for service improvement, it is completely anonymized and aggregated immediately upon collection in order to protect users' identities and privacy," said Jay Clarke, senior privacy program manager at Zoom.
'Coronavirus Is a Selling Opportunity'
The pandemic also raises broader questions about privacy.

"In some ways, you're inevitably going to have more monitoring of students in order to verify attendance," Vance said. If institutions choose to track how much work students are doing to ensure they're meeting credit hours, or are verifying identification of students for attendance and using tools like facial recognition, it would greatly affect surveillance of students.

But institutions don't have to go that route, according to Bill Fitzgerald, a privacy researcher at Consumer Reports.

"When you don't trust your students, surveillance is what you fall back on," Fitzgerald said.

Instead of testing students in ways that require surveillance to prevent cheating, colleges could instead encourage faculty to use project-based learning and portfolio-based assessments, which require students to truly engage with the work and are more difficult to cheat, he said.

Colleges should be wary of companies that might take advantage of the situation right now to increase surveillance through potentially unnecessary software to monitor students' online work.

"There are people who, right now, are thinking about ways that the coronavirus is a selling opportunity," Fitzgerald said.

Now is not the time to hastily adopt new technology, Fitzgerald said. Rather, it's the time to return to the basics, figure out what works the best for the most people and ensure students are getting the basics they need in order to learn.

"I don't think that anything is etched in stone, but I think we need to embed good practices now," he said.

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Pivot to online raises concerns for FERPA, surveillance

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Most colleges and universities across the country have pivoted to remote learning in an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe. While the sudden change is necessary, some privacy experts worry about the unintended consequences.

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Certain FERPA laws can prevent a university from facing damaging consequences based on a students actions. For example, a student involved with Student Affairs - fraternity that is involved with sexual assault allegations can interfere with specific criminal records from being accessed. This connects with a news article from the Chronicle by Greenberg (2018) "Oklahoma State University cried FERPA in response to a widespread criticism for failing to notify law enforcement officials of allegations that a fraternity member had sexually assaulted several students - despite its legal obligation to report this information under the Clery Act and FERPAs explicit exclusion of criminal records" (p. 1). This creates a major issue while FERPA has many positive factors on preventing student records from going public this can still allow students that have acted in negligence to be protected as well. The ethics and laws behind FERPA are made to help the privacy of the student, not allow a student to get away with sexual assault.   While FERPA provides certain protections there should be certain actions that need to change based on criminal interference.

Below is the article on FERPA and criminal actions. https://www.chronicle.com/article/let-ferpa-be-ferpa/?cid=gen_sign_in

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10th amendment of the U.S constitution - allows each state to make their own regulations based on their student population.

Texas
- Texas Success Initiative
- 350 math scores places student into college algebra below this score places students in developmental math
- Students are required to take the TSI based on their ACT/SAT composite scoring
- Passing test scores are subject to change based on the state mandate and revision as needed.
- Private institutions are not required to test their students in the TSI placement

(U.S. Const. amend. X).

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Texas Education Code is comprised of 6 titles and 9 subtitles.
Title 3 is Higher Education Coordinating Act of 1965. (TEC §§ 1.001 - 200.04).

This allows the proper support that students need to succeed and advance in their college experience. This can include an academic advisor creating rapport with a group of students. Of the group of students has an abusive parent or guardian that is trying to access their university records. It's up to the academic advisor to support , protect, and inform their student body. The support would be promising to the student their records are safe from a parents viewing unless other wise granted permission from the student.

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Plessy v Ferguson, 163 US 537 1896.
This allows all college students to be treated fairly and equally. For example, if  two students are joining a student organization such as student government. 1 student identifies as christian religon and white while the other is Hispanic/Latino atheist. A non profit organization is presenting a community article on the two students running for a position. The student affairs coordinator must treat the students equally regardless of religion identity. The student affairs officer can create issues by giving out the hispanic students records such as date of birth full name vs not giving out the white students information before informing them of the actual request. Equal and fair treatment is required across the institution.

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Family Educational Rights and Privacy (34. C. F. R. § 99).
In todays society multiple students can come from different backgrounds, economic status, and family upbringing. According to NASPA by Weeks (2001) "with todays changing family situation colleges face issues about the parents with whom information can be shared. Court decrees or other legal documents may provide the necessary clarification at other times colleges, like secondary schools are caught in the middle between persons who all claim they should be the sole recipients of information" (p.42). This can be challenging with students birth, foster, and step parents that are seeking students information. While FERPA protects student records it can also create challenging negative impacts on the students family.

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Texas State University local notification.
Per UPPS No. 01.04.31 the registrars office informs annually each Texas State student their FERPA rights by notification.
https://www.registrar.txstate.edu/legislative-policies/ferpa.html

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The Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law regarding the privacy of student records and the obligations of the institution, primarily in the areas of release of the records and the access to these records. Any educational institution that receives funds under any program administered by the U.S. Secretary of Education is bound by FERPA requirements. Institutions that fail to comply with FERPA may have funds administered by the Secretary of Education withheld.

Education Records

Education records are directly related to a student and maintained by an institution or its agents for all enrolled students, including those in high school. Education records can exist in any medium, including typed documents, computer-generated files, videotape, audiotape, film, microfilm, microfiche, and email, among others.

Education records include, but are not limited to, such things as graded papers, exams, transcripts, notes from a conversation with or about a student that are placed in a student's file for others in the department to reference, emails or other correspondence that contain identifying information about a student, and student disciplinary records.

Education records do not include such things as:

Sole possession records, i.e., records/notes kept in the sole possession of the maker, used only as personal memory aid and not revealed or accessible to any other person

Peer-graded papers before the instructor has collected them

Medical treatment records that include-but are not limited to-records maintained by physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists employed by the university and used for treatment purposes

Employment records unless employment is based on student status

Law enforcement unit records

Alumni records

Granting Access to my Student Education Records

Texas State students can grant access to their student education records through the Bobcat Family Portal. The Bobcat Family Portal provides an electronic FERPA authorization to simplify the process of requesting access to a student's education records including academic and financial information. Parents and Family members simply submit a request and the student will decide which records to share. The Bobcat Family Portal also provides a valuable connection to important Texas State news and events for Parents and Family members.

FERPA Annual Notification to Students

Per UPPS No. 01.04.31, the Office of the University Registrar provides the Annual Notification of Student Rights under FERPA to students to inform them of their right to:

Inspect and review their own education records (with certain limited exceptions) within 45 days of the day Texas State receives the student's request for access;

Request an amendment to their education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading;

Request a hearing if the response to the request for an amendment is unsatisfactory to the student;

Consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records;

Request that the institution not disclose their directory information; and

File a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education;

What is FERPA?

The Federal law, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), protects the privacy of the student education records and guarantees students' access to their own records. These rights include:

1. The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day Texas State receives a request for access. Students should submit to the Registrar, Academic Dean, Department Chair, or other appropriate official, written requests that identify the records they wish to inspect. Texas State 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 university official to whom the request was submitted, that official shall advise the student of the correct official to who the request should be addressed.

2. The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading. Students may ask the university to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate of misleading. They should write to the university official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the university decides not to amend the record as requested by the student, the university will, within a reasonable time, notify the student of the decision and advise the student of his or her right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.

3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the university or the Texas State University System 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 university has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Regents, Texas State University System; 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. 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 responsibility. Upon request, the university discloses education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.

4. The right to file a complaint with the U. S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by Texas State to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

5. The right to know the types of personally identifiable information that Texas State deems directory information that it may release without consent. Texas State has designated the following information as directory information: (1) name; (2) fields of study, including major and minor; (3) enrollment status (actual hours enrolled, undergraduate and graduate, etc.); (4) degrees, certificates, and awards received; (5) type of award received (academic, technical, continuing education, etc.); (6) dates of attendance; (7) student classification; (8) name of the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended; (9) telephone number; (10) Active, local and permanent addresses, excluding e‐mail address; (11) weight and height of athletes; (12) participation in officially recognized activities and sports; (13) names of prospective graduates; (14) names of parents; (15) photographs of students, and (16) any other records that could be treated as directory information under FERPA.

6. The right to refuse to let Texas State designate the types of directory information. Any student may refuse to let Texas State designate any or all of the above types of information about the student as directory information. To do so, the student should file a written request in the Registrar's Office during the first twelve (12) class days of a fall or spring term, or the first four (4) class days of a summer term. The student should specify in his or her request the types of information that should not be designated as directory information, or the student may direct that all of the above types of information not be designated as directory information. Texas State will apply the request to the student's records until the student notifies the Registrar's Office otherwise. Texas State may release the results of campus disciplinary proceedings concerning alleged perpetrators of violent crimes to the victims of those violent crimes.

Forms

Parental Affidavit of Dependency
Permission to Pick Up Records

Privacy Holds
Instructions to place or remove privacy holds
If and when a student requests for our office to place a Privacy Hold on their record, our staff is not allowed to release any information without a written consent. If and when a student decides to remove a privacy hold, they must submit a request in writing. A completed, physically signed form can be returned to the Office of the University Registrar either in person, by email, faxed or mailed in along with a legible copy of the student's driver's license or state ID (required to verify signature).

Any additional questions or comments regarding FERPA may be directed to the Office of the University Registrar at registrar@txstate.edu or (512) 245-2367.

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Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

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The Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law regarding the privacy of student records and the obligations of the institution, primarily in the areas of release of the records and the access to these records. Any educational institution that receives funds under any program administered by the U.S.

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A dilemma that can occur in the future role of academic advising or career counseling can include cooperating with a criminal case and having multiple students involved. This can create an ethical code of protecting the students records vs helping an investigation.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy (34. C. F. R. § 99).

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Having privacy, protection and confidentially is important when attending a university or college. Understanding the laws, ethical principles, and rights can help students prevent having their information stolen. During undergrad I granted permission to only my father to have permission to look over records when moving campuses. I transferred from Austin Community College to Texas State University. He was able to update my personal information with Texas State so they had the proper physical street address and mailing information needed. He was also informed on test scores such ACT, SAT, and TSI scoring in order to understand the placement of courses.

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Student Confidentiality
-understand FERPA rights
-diversity and equitability
-learn local requirements
- compliance with criminal cases
- understand the university policies and procedures
- support and protect study body