Notification Of Students' Privacy Rights Under FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act affords you, as a U of L student, certain rights with respect to your education records. In general, your education records are any data recorded in any medium that are directly related to you and are maintained by the University of Louisville or by a party acting for the University of Louisville. Often referred to as FERPA or the Buckley Amendment, this federal law can be seen at 20 U.S.C. 1232g and its regulations at 34 CFR 99.

1. You have the right to inspect and review your education records within forty-five days of the day the university receives your request for access. You should submit a written request identifying the record(s) you wish to inspect to one of the following university officials: the registrar, your dean, the vice president for student affairs, or the director of the FERPA Compliance Officer. The university will make arrangements for access and notify you of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained by the university official to whom you submitted your request, that official shall advise you of the person to whom the request should be addressed.
2. You have the right to request the amendment of your education records that you believe are inaccurate or misleading. To ask the university to amend a record you believe is inaccurate or misleading, you should write the university official responsible for the record, clearly identifying the part of the record you want changed and specifying why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the university decides not to amend the record as you request, the university will notify you of the decision and advise you of your right to a hearing regarding your request for amendment. If you wish to receive a hearing, you must make this request in writing to the FERPA Compliance Officer, who will provide additional information to you regarding the hearing procedures.
3. You have 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. One exception which permits disclosure without consent is disclosure to university officials with legitimate educational interests. A university official is a person employed by the university in an administrative, supervisory, academic or research, or support staff position (including the student grievance officer, 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 trustees; 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 university 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 of another school in which you seek or intend to enroll, the university may disclose your education records without your consent to the appropriate officials of that school. Specific statutes may amend FERPA or otherwise require the university to disclose certain student education records to certain individuals including the student's parents without the student's approval. The university's obligations under these statutes are described in U of L's "Guidelines to Protect the Privacy of Student Records." Otherwise, except for directory information, the university does not release your education records to your parents without your written permission. If you instruct U of L not to disclose your directory information, it may take as long as two business days for the university to process the change and comply fully with your request.
4. You have the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the University of Louisville to comply with the requirements of FERPA. If you have any questions about the U of L student records policy, you may contact its administrator, the University's FERPA officer via the General Counsel's office, at 502-852-5799. The privacy of student academic records is also addressed in KRS 164.283.