SPJ, SPLC object to proposed FERPA changes that would increase school secrecy
The U.S. Department of Education is proposing
rule changes for interpreting and implementing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and they would not bode well for journalists or the ability to hold schools accountable. The proposals would make secret any education records, even if they don't have any information identifying individual students, if a school believes someone could figure out who the student is or if the school believes the requester knows who the records might pertain to. This is ludicrous and if passed would cause schools to make everything secret, even statistical information, saying that someone might guess who the records refer to. It gets sillier. The DOE uses the example of a candidate who is running for office rumored to have been disciplined decades ago in school for plagiarism. A reporter requests records regarding plagiarism in a specific year, without the name. DOE urges schools to deny the request, saying the reporter could figure out whether the candidate plagiarized or not, hurting the candidate's privacy. Gads! While the DOE claims to apply a test to balance privacy with the public interest, that example (and others they use) completely ignores the public interest. People need to know if a candidate is a cheater to make an informed vote. The department uses other examples where the public need to know far outweighs an individual's privacy. On Thursday, SPJ sent a letter to DOE urging them to drop this secrecy-oriented rule change for what they call "targeted requests." Also, SPJ urged DOE to clarify for universities that parking tickets are not secret educational records and should be released as a check on preferential treatment and other problems. Despite court rulings saying university parking tickets are not secret under FERPA, many universities continue to claim they are secret educational records. On Monday, the Student Press Law Center also
spoke out, sending a letter objecting to the proposed rules.