Last revised June 15, 2023.
Notice of Student Rights with Respect to Education Records (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords you certain rights with respect to your education records. These rights include:
The right to inspect and review your education records (with certain limited exceptions) within 45 days of the day Emerson receives your request for access. You should submit any such request to the Registrar's Office in writing, identifying the records you wish to inspect. The Registrar's Office will make arrangements for access and notify you of the time and place where the records may be inspected. Records that are customarily open for student inspection will be accessible without written request.
As outlined by FERPA, a student may not inspect and review the following: financial information submitted by parent(s)/guardian(s); letters of recommendation to which the student has waived the rights of inspection and review; records upon which admission decisions were made; or education records containing information about more than one student, in which case the institution will permit access only to the part of the record which pertains to the inquiring student. The institution is not required to permit a student to inspect and review confidential letters and recommendations placed in the files prior to January 1, 1975, provided the letters were collected under established policies of confidentiality and were used only for the purposes for which they were collected.
The right to request the amendment of your education records if you believe them to be inaccurate. You should submit any such request to the Registrar's Office in writing, clearly identifying the records that you want to have amended and specifying the reasons you believe them to be inaccurate. The Registrar's Office will notify you of its decision and, if the decision is negative, of your right to a hearing regarding your request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to you at that time.
The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in your education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
Exceptions
One such exception permits disclosure to "school officials" with "legitimate educational interests." A "school official" is any person employed by Emerson in any administrative, supervisory, academic or research, or support staff position (including public safety and health services staff); any person or company with whom Emerson has contracted to provide a service to or on behalf of Emerson (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); any person serving on Emerson’s Board of Trustees; or any student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing their tasks. A School official has a "legitimate educational interest" if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill the official's professional responsibility.
Another such exception permits Emerson to disclose your "directory information", consisting of your name; local, home, and e-mail addresses; local and home telephone number; name of parent(s)/guardian(s); major field of study; enrollment status/rank (e.g., undergraduate or graduate; full time; freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior; first-year, second-year, or third-year); dates of attendance; anticipated degree and degree date; degrees, honors, and awards received; name of advisor; participation in sports and other officially recognized activities; height and weight of members of athletic teams; student ID number, user ID/computer user name, or other unique personal identifier used by the student for purposes of accessing or communicating in electronic systems; most recent educational agency or institution attended; and photograph, to anyone within the Emerson community and to the general public. Students who wish to have their directory information withheld must file a FERPA Directory Information Opt-out Form, available at the Office of the Registrar. (Please note that such a notification will prevent Emerson from providing your directory information to your friends, prospective employers, arts organizations, and others with whom you may wish us to share such information, so make your decision carefully). You may give such notification at any time, but it will be effective only prospectively.
Upon request, Emerson also discloses education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll or where the student is already enrolled so long as the disclosure is for purposes related to the student's enrollment or transfer.
As of January 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education’s FERPA regulations expand the circumstances under which education records and personally identifiable information (PII) contained in such records – including your Social Security Number, grades, or other private information – may be accessed without written consent. The U.S. Comptroller General, the U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Education, or state and local education authorities (“Federal and State Authorities) may allow access to records and PII without consent to any third party designated by a Federal or State Authority to evaluate a federal- or state-supported education program. The evaluation may relate to any program that is “principally engaged in the provision of education,” such as early childhood education and job training, as well as any program that is administered by an education agency or institution.
Second, Federal and State Authorities may allow access to education records and PII without consent to researchers performing certain types of studies, in certain cases even when we object to or do not request such research. Federal and State Authorities must obtain certain use-restriction and data security promises from the entities that they authorize to receive PII, but the Authorities need not maintain direct control over such entities.
In addition, in connection with Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, State Authorities may collect, compile, permanently retain, and share without consent PII from student's education records, and they may track participation in education and other programs by linking such PII to other personal information about students that they obtain from other Federal or State data sources, including workforce development, unemployment insurance, child welfare, juvenile justice, military service, and migrant student records.
Information on other such exceptions is available through the Registrar's Office.
At or before the beginning of the Fall semester, each new student is offered the opportunity to grant their parents or necessary third parties digital access to their educational records as a FERPA Proxy. This authorizes Emerson to release your grades and other information from your education records to those individual(s). This consent remains in effect until the Proxy access is removed or expires. Continuing students who did not set up a FERPA Proxy as a freshman may do so at any subsequent time. If you choose not to set up a Proxy, you are urged to inform your parents of your decision.
The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by Emerson to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is:
U.S. Department of Education
Student Privacy Policy Office
400 Maryland Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20202-8520
Jay M. Bernhardt, President