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Faculty and
Staff Guide to the Student Information Policy
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MIT’s student
information policy describes when, and to whom, faculty and staff may disclose
personally identifiable information about current and former students. It also gives students the right to see and
to challenge the accuracy of the records that MIT keeps about them. The policy incorporates the privacy rights
and protections provided by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(often referred to as FERPA or the Buckley Amendment).
This
website was prepared by the Committee on Student Information Policy as a guide
for faculty and staff. The full text of
the policy can be found on the web at http://web.mit.edu/policies/sip/. Email inquiries may be addressed to: csip@mit.edu.
Policy Summary
Education
Records / Directory Information
Disclosure of Education Records
Disclosure of Directory Information
Students’ Access to Their Own Records
MIT’s Student Information Policy governs the circumstances
under which, and the persons to whom, student information may be disclosed, as
well as students’ rights to access their own records and to challenge their
accuracy. As required by federal law, this policy includes the rights and
privacy protections provided by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(Title 20, U.S. Code, section 1232g, often referred to as "FERPA" or
the "Buckley Amendment").
The following summarizes in general terms the major
student rights under FERPA. For more detailed information, the policy in its
entirety should be consulted. The full text of MIT’s Student Information Policy
may be found online at http://web.mit.edu/policies/sip/,
or in printed form at the MIT Libraries and at the MIT Information Center, Room
7-121.
Education
Records / Directory Information
Under FERPA, education records include most tangible
materials, including computer records, maintained by MIT that relate directly
to an identifiable student currently or formerly enrolled at MIT. These include
admissions records, grades, most course work, exams, UROP records, disciplinary
records, and financial aid records, as well as gender, nationality, race,
ethnicity, and identification photographs. Education records do not include
Directory Information, as described below, or those records of Institute
faculty and staff members that are made for, and restricted to, their personal
use. Other kinds of information, such as medical and law enforcement records, are
also excluded from the definition of education records. These are sometimes
governed by other laws and/or policies.
Disclosure of Education
Records
A student has the right to consent to disclosures of
personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education
records, except to the extent FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
Disclosure Within MIT. Under one
FERPA exception, individually identifiable information contained in a student’s
education records may, without the student’s consent, be disclosed within MIT
to Institute officials with a legitimate educational interest, meaning
officials who need that specific information in order to fulfill their
professional responsibilities. A school official is a person employed by the Institute
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 Institute has contracted (such as an attorney,
auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the MIT Corporation; or a
student serving on an official committee, or assisting other school officials
in performing their tasks. In addition, victims of crimes of violence will be
informed of the outcomes of disciplinary proceedings about those incidents.
Disclosure Outside of MIT. As a
general rule, individually identifiable information contained in a student’s
education records may be disclosed to persons outside of MIT only with the
student’s prior, written consent. MIT discloses education records without a
student’s consent to other schools in which the student seeks enrollment or is
enrolled. The student has the right, upon request, to a copy of the records
disclosed to another school. Although parents normally are not entitled to
review students’ education records without the students’ consent, appropriate
MIT representatives may consult with parents and others in emergencies when
health and safety issues so require. Disclosure may also be made without
consent to government agencies or in accordance with legal process only to the
extent required by law.
Disclosure
of Directory Information
A student’s name, term and permanent home address,
MIT office address, term phone number, term email address, course, year and registration
type, degrees received, date of birth, dates of attendance, honors and awards received, and for an intercollegiate
athletic team member, height and weight, is designated as a student’s
"directory information."
This information may be disclosed within and outside
of MIT without a student’s consent. Students have the right to require that
some or all of their directory information not be disclosed (except as
otherwise permitted under FERPA) by following the instructions on WebSIS. In order to prevent publication in
the printed Student Directory published each fall, this request must be made at
the very beginning of the fall term.
Students’
Access to Their Own Records
A student has the right to review his or her own
education records within 45 days after making a written request to the
department or unit that maintains the records, to the Registrar, to the Office
of the Dean for Undergraduate Education, or to the Office of the Dean for
Graduate Students, identifying the records the student wishes to inspect. The
appropriate MIT official 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 MIT official to whom the request was
submitted, that official shall advise the student of the correct official to
whom the request should be addressed. The right to access includes the right to
obtain copies. The right does not, however, extend to portions of a student’s
education records that relate to other identifiable students.
Correction
of Records
A student has the right to request the amendment of
information in his or her education records that the student believes is
inaccurate or misleading. Such a request may be made to the custodian of the record,
to the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education, or to the Office of the
Dean for Graduate Students and should clearly identify the part of the record
the student wants changed, and state why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the
requested amendment is not made, MIT will notify the student of this decision
and that the student has the right to a hearing concerning the requested
amendment. Additional information on the hearing procedures will be provided to
the student when he/she is notified of the right to a hearing. If the
correction is not made as a result of the hearing, the student may include his
or her own statement in the record. Because grades and evaluations are the
result of academic judgment, they are not subject to this type of challenge.
Right
to File Complaint
A student has the right to file a complaint with the
U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by MIT to comply with
the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the office that administers
FERPA is: Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400
Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington. D.C., 2020-4605
Frequently
Asked Questions
Non-Directory
Information
When can I disclose information about a student?
Within MIT,
you may disclose personally identifiable information about a current or former
student only to those faculty and staff members who have a need to know the
information. You may disclose student information
to others within MIT only if it is Directory Information or if you have
explicit consent from the student to make the disclosure. “Need to know” and
“Directory Information” are explained under the next two questions.
To individuals and
organizations outside MIT, you may disclose personal information
about a current or former student only after obtaining the student’s prior,
written consent—or when the information is Directory Information that the
student has not asked MIT to withhold from public disclosure.
What constitutes a “need to know”?
MIT officials (individual
persons employed in an administrative, academic, research, supervisory, or
support position) who have a legitimate educational interest may have access to
the specific student information that is needed to fulfill their professional
responsibilities (need to know) without a student's prior consent. For example:
·
A departmental academic officer or administrator needs to know the
complete academic records for all majors and minors within the department. However, an individual faculty advisor
needs to know only the records of his or her own advisees.
·
A faculty member teaching a subject, along with the subject's TAs and the
subject administrator, if any, needs to know all of the grades being assigned
in that subject and whether or not each enrolled student has completed the
subject's prerequisites. However there
is no need to know other aspects of the academic records of the students enrolled
in the subject.
- A faculty or staff member
considering a student for a potential UROP, RA, TA, or other employment
position may or may not need to know some of the information contained in
the student's academic record. The
student may not realize what information may be needed. Instead of the faculty or staff
member's trying to determine precisely what information is of
"legitimate educational interest" and gathering this information
without the student's knowledge, the student should be asked to provide
the needed information as part of the application process. (Students can
obtain "unofficial" MIT transcripts for this purpose from the
Student Service Center, free of charge.)
What is “Directory
Information”?
The
following information is designated "Directory Information” by the
Institute and may be released unless the student has requested that the
information be withheld from disclosure.
- Name
- Term and permanent
home address
- MIT office address
- Term phone number
- Term electronic mail
address
- Course
- Year and registration
type (regular or special student)
- Degrees received
- Date of birth
- Dates of attendance
- Honors and awards received
- For intercollegiate
athletic team members: height and weight
To find out what
information a student has chosen to suppress, consult the online
directory. Address, telephone, course, or
year information not appearing in the online directory has been suppressed by
the student. A student may choose to
withhold his or her information from the directory entirely, in which case no
information may be released without the student's written consent. Inquiries about degrees and dates of
attendance should be referred to the Registrar's Office.
The
Student Directory itself, and listings with directory information about
multiple students, whether paper or electronic, may never be released to
anyone outside the Institute or placed on a public website.
What about information that is not
"Directory Information"?
The
rest of a student's educational record is non-directory information. It may
not be disclosed outside the Institute without the student’s prior, written
consent. This information includes, but is not limited to:
- Admission information
- Biographical
information including date and place of birth, social security number, MIT
ID number, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, and photographs
- Grades, test scores,
subjects taken, academic specialization and activities, and official
communications about a student's status
- Course work including
papers, exams, and communications that are part of the academic process
between a student and the teaching staff, and between a student and other
students in the class
- UROP and internship
program records
- Student's financial
and financial aid records
- Disciplinary records
Students
often ask faculty members to write letters of recommendation or to serve as
references when applying for jobs or admission to other academic programs. May information from students’ educational
records be included?
Yes,
but federal law requires the students’ specific, written consent. Obtaining separate, written requests for
each and every letter or oral reference for the same student can, however, be
quite burden-some. We suggest that
faculty ask students at least to send a brief email message stating that that
they are seeking employment (or academic admission, etc.), and indicating as
specifically as possible the kind of information that may be released for that
purpose, and to whom.
What
if a student's parents call and ask about their child's record?
MIT has a long-standing
policy of communicating confidentially with students with respect to their
academic, health, and advising matters.
Parents who ask you for non-directory information should be referred to
the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education or the Graduate Students
Office. These offices will be able to
provide parents with as much information as the law permits.
What
if I get a request from a government agency, or a court order, for student
information?
Faculty and staff may
provide information to law enforcement agents, such as the FBI, who are
conducting routine background checks only when the agent presents a form
signed by the student specifically authorizing the investigation.
Subpoenas and court orders,
on the other hand, should be referred to the Office of the Dean for
Undergraduate Education or the Graduate Students Office. Non-routine requests
from law enforcement organizations, such as those pertaining particularly to
international students, should be referred to the Registrar’s Office.
What
if I get a call from a newspaper or television reporter?
Requests from the media
about current and former students should be directed to the News Office.
Students
occasionally ask me to disclose to them information that I keep about them in
my files. Which records, if any, do
they have the right to see?
A student who makes a
written request has the legal right to see any record you maintain that
identifies the student (including copies you keep of correspondence about the
student) unless the student has waived the right of access. This right does not
apply to any portion of a student’s record that identifies another student, or
to your personal records as long as these are never shared with, or
accessible by, any other person (not even a personal assistant). You may contact the Committee on Student
Information Policy for assistance with such a request.
We
post each student's picture, year, and term address on our department's web
page. Only people within the department
have access to the website. Do we need
to get the students’ permission to do this?
Yes. Students have the right to withhold
directory and other personal information from public or community distribution. Permission must be received from each
student in order to post his or her personal information to any web site,
whether open or limited.
What
about my class lists? With whom may I
share these?
The instructor in charge of
a subject may share class lists, including lists with photographs, only with
other faculty, TAs, and administrators assigned to that subject. No
information or photographs from these lists may be disseminated further by any
of these recipients, nor used for any purpose other than to fulfill appropriate
instructional and administrative responsibilities.
Is
it okay if I use email to send student information that I’m permitted to
disclose?
There isn’t a clear answer
to this question. Given the current state
of technology, it is important to understand that email is not a secure
means of transmitting information unless it is encrypted. It’s more like sending a postcard than
mailing a sealed letter. On the other
hand, email is convenient and its use is commonplace. We suggest using email with an amount of caution that is
proportionate to the sensitivity of its contents. It’s always best if you can ascertain that the student whose
information you wish to send understands and consents to the security risks
entailed before you send the information by email. It’s also strongly advisable to minimize the identifiability of
the student as much as possible. For
example, if the recipient will already know about whom you are writing, there
is no need to include the student’s identity. In some cases, the student’s
initials or first name may be sufficient.
Try not to use sensitive words like “grades,” “academic difficulty,” “financial hold,” “disciplinary action,”
“CAP,” “COD,” etc., in your headers. We
strongly suggest that email not be used at all for sending batches of
sensitive data such as lists of students’ grades or ID numbers.