The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 as amended
(FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their
education records:
A student has the right to inspect and review his or her
education records within 45 days of the day the Law Center
receives a request for access. To do so, a student should
submit to the Registrar a written request that identifies
the record(s) he or she wishes to inspect. The Registrar
will make arrangements for access and notify the student of
the time and place where the records may be inspected.
A student has the right to request the amendment of the
education records that the student believes are inaccurate.
To to so, a student should submit to the Registrar a written
request clearly identifying the part of the record he or she
wants changed, and specify why it is inaccurate. If
the Law Center decides not to amend the record as requested
by the student, the Registrar will notify the student of the
decision and advise the student of his or her right to a hearing
regarding the request for amendment. Additional information
regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student
when notified of the right to a hearing.
A student has the right to consent to disclosures of personally
identifiable information contained in the student's education
records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure
without consent. One exception, which permits disclosure
without consent, is disclosure to school officials with legitimate
educational interests. A school official can be a person 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 Law Center
has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection
agent); a person serving on the Board of Directors; or a student
serving on an official committee, such as the Committee on
Professional Responsibility, or assisting another school official
in performing his or her tasks. A school official has
a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to
review an education record in order to fulfill his or her
professional responsibility.
A student has the right to file a complaint with the U.S.
Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the
Law Center to comply with the requirements of FERPA.
The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA
are: Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20202-5920.
Georgetown University considers the following information as
"directory information", or information that can be
made available to the general public: name, address, telephone
number, e-mail address, date and place of birth, photographs,
parents' names, major field of study, full or part time program,
dates of attendance, expected graduation date, degrees and awards
received, and previous educational institutions. No other
items of student information will be released to any person or
organizations outside of Georgetown University without the written
consent of the student, except for certain categories of outside
persons or organizations specifically exempted by federal law.
Under the provisions of FERPA, students have the right to instruct
the University to withhold even the "directory information"
listed above. To do so, students need to fill out a "Request
to Prevent Disclosure of Directory Information: form available
at the Office of the Registrar within the first two weeks of the
Fall semester.
Students should consider very carefully the consequences of
a decision to withhold "Directory Information," which
means that the Law Center will not release this information and
any future request for such information will be refused, unless
excepted by law. The Law Center assumes no liability for
honoring instructions that such information be withheld.