Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

1. The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day Lesley University receives a request for access.
2. The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading.
3. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by Lesley University to comply with the requirements of FERPA.
4. The right to consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent the FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.

One exception which permits disclosure without consent is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the University 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 University has contracted (such as an attorney, auditory, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has a legitimate education interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility.

In addition, Lesley University may, at times, disclose directory information without a student's consent. Directory information includes: student name, major field or study, and degrees and awards received. If a student does not want these items to be released to the public, he or she must notify the Office of the University Registrar in writing prior to October first.

NOTE: Students should be aware that the definition of directory information differs between FERPA and the Solomon Amendment as described below:

Under the Solomon Amendment, Lesley University may not in policy or practice prohibit or prevent the Secretary of Defense from obtaining, for military recruiting purposes, entry to campus, access to students on campus, access to directory information on students or have an anti-ROTC policy. According to the Solomon Amendment, Lesley University must provide the military with access to information including name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, level of education, academic major, degrees received and the educational institution in which the student was most recently enrolled, unless a student has formally requested that such information be withheld from third parties.