Colleges: Federal student privacy law conflicts with need for transparency
In a review of court cases involving the federal student privacy law or FERPA, the Student Press Law Center found that FERPA does not always sanction withholding student records from the media. Recent court decisions show that under FERPA states may have considerable leeway to set their own conditions for release of information. For instance, in a recent federal district court case regarding the release of records concerning a University of Illinois admissions scandal, the