This is nothing new. I teach college and cannot discuss any aspect of a student’s career with any outside sources unless the student signs a waiver or agrees in front of witnesses to allow me to do so, lists me as a reference.
All I can do is confirm they completed or did not complete a course of instruction, and that they are or are not a student.
Parents call me constantly wanting information. I cannot legally give it. It is a violation of student privacy. We also cannot post grades in hallways, even with an alias or tied to a key word.
Tom Penders, basketball coach at the University of Texas, went from a multi-million dollar contract to out the door in a couple of weeks. One of his assistant coaches stated during a press conference that a student athlete that had been complaining about the athletic program was on scholastic probation.
BAM! Violation of federal privacy laws. BAM! Job gone.
I was on the University of Washington campus this last weekened. Walked around the bookstore, etc.
I’m amazed at how completely hard left the campus had gone. Even the pretense of the political diversity is gone.
FERPA is certainly not new, nor is some prohibition of access to undergrads educational info. However, in this particular case, this University’s “former policy ... of sending grade reports and notices of preliminary disciplinary action to parents and guardians of dependent students” is changing from a situation where the school “routinely answered parent inquiries regarding a ... student’s academic progress” to a situation where no information is available to parent without express authorizataion from student.