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The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that,
among other things, protects the privacy of student education records and information contained in those
records. FERPA applies to all educational institutions that receive funds under an applicable program of
the U.S. Department of Education, including Northwestern University. Faculty using the University’s
Blackboard-based Course Management System are necessarily users of student records information, and need to
be aware of how FERPA affects what they can and cannot do in connection with this system.
FERPA generally prohibits the disclosure of student education records and information contained in those
records without the express written consent of the student (in the form of a signed and dated release).
You have the responsibility, as a staff or faculty member with access to student education records, to
protect education records and student information in your possession or to which you have access.
Some student information is considered “public” or “directory” information and may be released without
the student's written permission. However, a student has the right to restrict this information as well
and can request that the University not publish such directory information as name, email address, and
major. Students typically make such requests for restriction at the time of their arrival at the
University, and one consequence of such requests is that these students are not listed in Northwestern’s
ph e-mail directory. The University's FERPA policy is a useful resource and is available at http://www.registrar.northwestern.edu/ferpa/.
University faculty and staff are allowed access to student education records only for legitimate educational
purposes. Such access is granted only to those employees of the institution for the purposes of completing
that employee’s responsibilities. If you are in doubt about releasing student information, DO NOT release
the information until you have contacted the Registrar's Office.
The Registrar's Office has primary responsibility for ensuring FERPA compliance, but the law requires all
faculty and staff to treat students’ educational records in accordance with FERPA in order to ensure student
records remain secure.
To ensure your handling of student record information is FERPA compliant and safeguards
the confidentiality of this information, DO NOT
- Provide access to your course site to anyone other than a student enrolled in the course or a
University employee who needs access to the course site to perform his or her responsibilities.
- Publicly display the class roster list.
- Share a student's work on the course site with any others beyond the other students in that
class or those employees with access to a course site without the express written permission of
that student.
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