Hello All:
Being an academic collection that finds
student-related records cropping up in the
most unusual places, we have been wrestling with
the requirements of the U.S. Family
Education Rights & Privacy act (which is
sometimes referred to as the "Buckley Amendment"). We have done some
redacting (Latin for black magic marker) of photocopied documents, but wondered
how other educational archives meet the challenges of FERPA.
My specific question involves time
limitations. As I read the regulations, the privacy rights are secured for
an unspecified time to the documented student (and, before adulthood, to their
legal guardian). Does this mean those privacy protections disappear
upon the death of the student (which seems to be the only practical time frame
in this age of life-long learning)?
If the FERPA rights end with the life of the
student, then could we not breathe easily with records that were, say, 80
years old (with marginal fear of centenarian scholars)?
Does anyone have such a policy?
Steven
Steven Allan Brown
Head, University Archives & Records Management Hargrett Library Main Library University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602 sabrown@arches.uga.edu "They are incapable of articulating words, however
much care and attention may be bestowed upon their education; and their screams
are so disagreeable as to render them at best very indifferent companions."
-Audubon on the Carolina Parakeet in his
Ornithological
Biography-
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