Monday’s front page story explored OU’s refusal to provide students with a record of student parking tickets. These records would enable Sooners to verify for themselves the fairness of the parking ticket system.
Because these records are maintained by the university, a public entity, using public resources, the public should have open access to the information in them. But OU denies such requests, hiding behind the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
This federal law was intended to protect confidential educational records of students — a worthy purpose. OU is just one of many universities that interpret the law to mean any document maintained by the university about a student is private.
Freedom of information experts and the courts of North Carolina and Maryland disagree with this interpretation. It’s clear lawmakers intended FERPA to protect a specific kind of document, not to provide a broad cover for the university to operate in secret.
Parking tickets have no expectation of confidentiality (under windshield wipers for all to see) and do not pertain to a student’s education. They should not be withheld under FERPA.
A broad interpretation of privacy laws is a serious threat to the public’s right to know — and to students’ abilities to hold the university accountable.
Favoritism in parking tickets for student-athletes was discovered at the University of North Carolina and the University of Maryland through records requests the universities initially denied under FERPA.
More seriously, just this year OSU officials failed to report cases of sexual assault to the police in fear of violating their too-strict interpretation of privacy laws.
There is very little oversight to ensure open records and privacy laws are being followed properly, so students will need to take matters into their own hands. If you believe in your right to know, call the President’s Action Line at 405-325-1212 and demand a more accurate interpretation of FERPA.
