2007 - 2008 Student Handbook

STUDENT RECORDS

CONFIDENTIALITY OF STUDENT RECORDS

Under the provisions of the Educational Rights and Privacy Act, directory information is considered public information and, as such may be made available, through the approval of the Dean of Student Affairs and, when appropriate, the Registrar, to third parties unless you request to be excluded from such published information. Directory information may include your name, parents' name, local and home address, e-mail address, and telephone numbers, date and place of birth, major field of study, class year, information related to participation in officially recognized activities and sports, dates of attendance, degrees, class rank to be used in determining eligibility for honors and awards, activities, intercollegiate athletic participation, other appropriate recognition, and educational agencies and institutions attended by the student. If you do not wish to have this information about you made public, you must complete the "Request for a Directory Hold" form in the Office of the Registrar, 109 Long Hall, by the end of the drop/add period in any term.  The directory hold will remain in effect until you request that it be removed.  Seniors are urged to remove this hold prior to graduation.  Otherwise, the College will not be permitted to respond to calls from potential employers.

Lycoming College maintains various records in order to monitor the progress of each student as he or she operates within the environment. In so doing, the College recognizes that each student is in the process of developing his or her life values and will from time to time encounter personal, social, and academic problems which, as learning experiences and developmental opportunities, should be seen as a foundation for future growth rather than as a stigma. It is with this in mind that the College has adopted its policy respecting the confidentiality of student records. In addition, each student and his or her parents are provided certain rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (PL93-380) and amended in 1992. Under the Buckley Amendment post-secondary students enjoy essentially seven basic rights with regard to their educational records. These include: 

1.      the right to inspect and review, with certain exceptions, their official records;

2.      the right to a hearing to challenge the content of the record to insure that records are not inaccurate or to correct inaccurate information; 

3.      the assurance, with certain exception, that records will not be released without the student's written consent; 

4.      the right to know what agencies, organizations, or persons have access to the records and their interest in such access;

5.      the assurance that personal information from the student's educational record shall only be transferred to a third party on the condition that such party will not permit any other party to have access to such information without the written consent of the student; 

6.      annual notification of their rights pursuant to the Act;

7.      the right to submit a written complaint to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Office, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. concerning the alleged failure of the College to comply with the Act and its implementing regulations. 

A complete copy of the Act and its implementing regulations is available for inspection in the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs. The regulations implementing the Act may also be found in the Federal Register Vol. 48,No. 118,Thursday, June 17, 1976, pp. 24670-24675. Consultation concerning the Act and its implementing regulations is available in the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs or the Office of the Registrar. The detailed policy on the Confidentiality of Student Records adopted by Lycoming College is available in the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs. 

Student records considered non-public are maintained only by full-time members of the College staff employed for that purpose. These include:

1.      Academic and Admissions Records-Registrar and Dean of the College

2.      Psychological and Counseling Records-Director of Counseling Services

3.      Financial Records-Treasurer and Director of Financial Aid

4.      Disciplinary Records-Dean of Student Affairs and Assistant Dean/Director of Residence Life

5.      Medical Information-Nurse Director

6.      Alumni Records-Director of Alumni and Parent Programs

7.      Placement Files-Director of Career Development

8.      Incident Reports (except in pending criminal matters)-Director of Safety and Security

Retention of Records

1.      Each student's ACADEMIC RECORD will be kept indefinitely.

2.      The MEDICAL RECORDS of a student will be retained seven (7) years from the date of the student's graduation or withdrawal. 

3.      The DISCIPLINARY RECORDS maintained by the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs and/or Director of Residential Life shall be destroyed seven (7) years after the disciplinary action was taken. Please consult the "Disciplinary Record Retention Policy" in the Student Handbook (www.lycoming.edu/stuaff/handbook/index.htm) for details.

4.      COUNSELING RECORDS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST DATA are maintained by Counseling Services for a period of seven (7) years after the termination of services.

5.      ADMISSIONS RECORDS and supporting documents are sent to the Registrar's Office when a student matriculates. The Registrar's Office retains these records indefinitely.

6.      FINANCIAL AID RECORDS are retained for a five-year (5) period, unless, for purposes required by law, records must be kept longer. 

7.      FINANCIAL RECORDS will be retained so long as any obligation to the College remains or as required by law. 

8.      PLACEMENT MATERIALS are kept in the Career Development Center in the Wertz Student Center for five (5) years after a student graduates. 

9.      INCIDENT REPORTS are kept in the Office of Safety and Security in Rich Hall for a period of five (5) years.