FERPA Zombies

A brainless obstructionist response rises from the grave: claiming the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits students from obtaining copies of their own Student Files from the University Registrar's Office.

I guess it makes sense for zombies to pose as university administrators; to paraphrase director Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead: "send more students!" "More BRAINS!"

In a response to the request by Nancy L. Smith, Interim Associate Registrar, reference was made to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and you were informed that under FERPA, "you have a right to view your student file and make notes from the information contained in your file, but you may not make copies of the materials contained in your file." Ms. Smith added that "FERPA provides a right to view, but not an automatic right to copies." […]

while FERPA does not appear to confer a right to obtain copies of the records that you have requested, I believe that the other statutes considered in the preceding commentary require that copies be made available to you upon payment of the proper fee.

Freeman, Robert J. [Freedom of Information Law Advisory Opinion f10125]. NYS Department of State Committee on Open Government. May 29, 1997. http://docs.dos.ny.gov/coog/ftext/f10125.htm

Fifteen years later, I had to deal with two former co-workers of Nancy L. Smith, Maria Brown and Karen Chico Hurst. They should've known about the Advisory Opinion, one would think. Quotations below are cropped out of e-mails down to the most relevant parts:

On Jan 26, 2012, at 8:35 AM, Toff wrote:

May I request a copy of my own student file, and how would I go about doing that?

On Jan 26, 2012, at 10:34 AM, Associate Registrar Maria Brown wrote:

The file is only available for viewing only. You cannot make any copies of anything in the file since there are copyright implications as well as the material now belongs to the University. You will need to contact our office at 518-442-5540 and make an appointment to see the file.

On Jan 26, 2012, at 11:25 AM, Associate Registrar Maria Brown wrote:

The transcripts are copyright information and the admissions information once you submitted to the University it becomes the property of the University.

April 30, 2012 I wrote to the University Registrar Karen Chico Hurst. I finally received a response two weeks later (the boldface, underlining, and highlighting are all in the original):

On May 14, 2012, at 12:30 PM, Registrar Karen Chico Hurst wrote:

FERPA allows the following: The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day the University receives a request for access. This is why you are only allowed to view.

Transcripts are part of the student academic folder, they are available to review and inspect. If you need copies they need to be obtained from the institution of origin.

Can you tell me who wrote to you claiming there are copyright implications? I would like to make sure that individual is clear on why we don’t allow any part of the student folder to be copied.

On May 15, 2012, at 4:38 PM, Registrar Karen Chico Hurst wrote:

FERPA allows the following: The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day the University receives a request for access. This is why you are only allowed to view.

"Stop me if you've heard this one..."

The argumentum ad nauseum [...] where the advocate seeks to sustain his position by repetition piled upon repetition rather than by succinct, effective reasoned proof or logical development.

Aldisert, Ruggero J. Logic for Lawyers: A Guide to Clear Legal Thinking.3rd Ed. South Bend, IN: National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 1997. 225.

Alternatively, could it be said to have been a combination of argumentum ad cruditas, argumentum ad audacia, and argumentum ad planus?

On May 16, 2012, at 08:41 AM, Robert J. Freeman, Executive Director of the NYS Department of State Committee on Open Government wrote:

I disagree with the Registrar’s response and have attached an opinion that contains an analysis of the matter. Please feel free to share the opinion with the Registrar.

On May 30, 2012, at 10:37 AM, Registrar Karen Chico Hurst wrote:

I don’t see any correspondence indicating you requested a copy of your academic file in January 2012.

It took me from January 2012 to June 2012 to obtain my own Student File. When she finally sent it, Karen Chico Hurst even sent copies of my transcripts from other universities, which was a surprise.

I was only able to obtain my own Student File thanks to an Advisory Opinion sent to me by Mr. Freeman. For some reason he sent me a 1998 one on the same subject for a different state school, but it did the trick. That 1997 one he'd sent to the University at Albany himself.

I think it unlikely that Ms. Brown and Ms. Chico Hurst believed what they'd written me, though I suppose it's vaguely possible. As for Ms. Chico Hurst not seeing any correspondence indicating I'd requested a copy of my Student File in January 2012, that might have been technically true if her eyes were closed at the time, or if Maria Brown had deleted my e-mails and her replies. Maria Brown had not e-mailed me from her own e-mail account; she'd used Registrar at albany dot edu.

There's been more FERPA obstructionism at the University at Albany that I've faced, but the above was the only case I succeeded at. In the other instances I never received what I requested, and they subsequently banned me entirely from making record access requests (FOIL, FERPA, etc.) with the Registrar or Records Access Officers.

Always speak to your doctor when you detect any symptoms of FERPA occlusion before it develops into a full-blown zombie outbreak.