In the interest of health and safety to students, changes have been proposed for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by the U.S. Department of Education.
The proposed clarifications to FERPA, a law designed to protect the privacy of students' records, were posted on the federal register last week.
Joe Puzycki, interim associate vice president of Student Affairs, said Penn State will benefit from these changes. He said there are many crisis situations on campus and many students struggling in a variety of ways.
"In those circumstances, we might think that a student might be at serious risk to themselves or others," Puzycki said. "We have an obligation to head that off, and sometimes that means sharing information outside of a student's privacy."
Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said some of the changes are just clarifications of current laws pertaining to releasing student records to parents and health or law officials when a student is considered a danger to himself or others.
"We wanted to make crystal clear to schools that they could release that type of information, in the wake of the tragic Virginia Tech shooting a year ago," Bradshaw said. "Some schools indicated to us they felt they could not release information to parents or health officials or law officials; they thought FERPA prevented that.
As a result, we wanted to clear up any confusion that might be out there."
The proposed changes state the need to balance the interests of safety, privacy and treatment and giving administrators greater flexibility in taking appropriate actions during times of issues stemming from the health or safety of students.
Puzycki said in most high-risk situations, administrators consult other university offices, including getting a legal opinion.
"These decisions are not made in a vacuum," he said. "We make sure that if we are going to release information that it is not going to do further damage."
Donald Heller, director of Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education, said anything policymakers can do to provide more latitude to institutions of higher education is a step in the right direction.
"One concern is whether information would be released that shouldn't have been. But most institutions are conscious of student privacy issues. I'm not too worried that these regulations will have a negative impact on students," Heller said.
Puzycki said the changes will make it easier for institutions to make decisions regarding the health and safety of students.
"The language is going to clarify better for people and show the options there are to help a student," Puzycki said.
The changes are open to comment on the federal register until the deadline on May 8. The comments will be taken under consideration; other revisions will be made; and the Department of Education aims to publish the final rules next fall, Bradshaw said. "The response so far has been helpful," he said, "and we'll clear up any confusion that's out there so that schools understand what they can and can't do in respect to records."
