Original Notice.

     Preproposal statement of inquiry was filed as WSR 01-10-028.

     Title of Rule: Student records.

     Purpose: An amendment to (a) provide for parental notification in cases of students being charged with illegal use or possession of drugs and/or alcohol; (b) provide victims of sexual offenses information regarding disciplinary action taken against perpetrators; and (c) expand directory information to include e-mail addresses.

     Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 28B.30.150.

     Summary: (a) Provides for parental notification in cases of students being charged with illegal use or possession of drugs and/or alcohol; (b) provides victims of sexual offenses information regarding disciplinary action taken against perpetrators; and (c) expands directory information to include e-mail addresses.

     Reasons Supporting Proposal: To make the provisions of chapter 504-21 WAC consistent with changes to federal FERPA law.

     Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting, Implementation and Enforcement: Elaine Voss and Richard Backes, Lighty Student Services Building, (509) 335-4531.

     Name of Proponent: Office of the Provost, Office of the Registrar, student affairs, public.

     Rule is necessary because of federal law, 20 U.S.C. 1232g.

     Explanation of Rule, its Purpose, and Anticipated Effects: An amendment to (a) provide for parental notification in cases of students being charged with illegal use or possession of drugs and/or alcohol; (b) provide victims of sexual offenses information regarding disciplinary action taken against perpetrators; and (c) expand directory information to include e-mail addresses.

     Proposal Changes the Following Existing Rules: (a) Provide for parental notification in cases of students being charged with illegal use or possession of drugs and/or alcohol; (b) provide victims of sexual offenses information regarding disciplinary action taken against perpetrators; and (c) expand directory information to include e-mail addresses.

     No small business economic impact statement has been prepared under chapter 19.85 RCW. Not applicable.

     Hearing Location: Washington State University, Lighty 405, Pullman, Washington 99164, on September 5, at 1:00 p.m.

     Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: Contact Kirsten Pauli by August 31, 2001, (509) 335-7739.

     Submit Written Comments to: Loretta M. Lamb, P.O. Box 64105, Pullman, WA 99164, fax (509) 335-4642, by August 31, 2001.

     Date of Intended Adoption: September 5, 2001.

July 6, 2001

Loretta M. Lamb

Assistant Vice-President for

Personnel and Administration

Rules Coordinator

     (a) University staff and faculty, including deans, department and program chairs and academic advisers, and faculty and students when officially appointed to a university senate or administrative committee, when the information is required for a legitimate educational interest within the performance of their responsibilities to the university, with the understanding that its use will be strictly limited to the performance of those responsibilities.

     (b) Federal and state officials requiring access to education records in connection with the audit and evaluation of a federally- or state-supported education program or in connection with the enforcement of federal or state legal requirements which relate to such programs. In such cases the information required shall be protected by the federal or state official in a manner which will not permit the personal identification of students and their parents to other than those officials, and such personally-identifiable data shall be destroyed when no longer needed for such audit, evaluation or enforcement of legal requirements.

     (c) Persons or organizations, other than parents or legal guardians, providing to the student financial aid, or determining financial aid decisions concerning eligibility, amount, condition, and enforcement of terms of said aid.

     (d) Organizations conducting studies for or on behalf of the university for purposes of developing, validating or administering predictive tests, administering student aid programs, and improving instruction, if such studies are conducted in such a manner as will not permit the personal identification of students by persons other than representatives of such organizations, and such information will be destroyed when no longer needed for the purposes for which it was provided.

     (e) Education records may be used for legitimate academic research; provided that

     (i) The procedures utilized and the reported findings do not violate the student's confidence;

     (ii) Students' names will not be included in the study or in any way linked with the data;

     (iii) Case histories and case records are sufficiently disguised to prevent identification of the individuals involved; and

     (iv) The student's written permission is obtained where individual identification occurs.

     (f) Accrediting organizations in order to carry out their accrediting functions.

     (g) Any person or entity designated by judicial order or lawfully-issued subpoena, upon condition that a reasonable attempt has been made to notify the student of all such orders or subpoenas in advance of the compliance therewith unless the subpoena is issued for a law enforcement purpose or is issued by a federal grand jury and the court or other issuing agency has ordered that the existence of the subpoena not be disclosed. Any university employee or office receiving a subpoena or judicial order for education records should immediately notify the WSU division of the office of the attorney general.

     (h) Parents or legal guardians of a student who have established that student's status as their dependent according to Internal Revenue Code ((of 1954, Section 152)).

     (i) An alleged victim of any crime of violence ((as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 16)) or nonforcible sexual offense, as they are defined in Appendix A to 34 CFR Part 99, shall be informed of the results of any disciplinary proceeding conducted by WSU against the alleged perpetrator of that crime with respect to that crime.

     (j) To the office of the attorney general when disclosure is to comply with a judicial order or to provide legal advice.

     (k) WSU may provide to parents or guardians of students under age twenty-one information regarding violations of federal, state, or local laws or the university's conduct code where such violations concern the use or possession of alcohol or controlled substances and where WSU determines that those students have committed such violations.

     (l) When either the student initiates legal action against WSU or when WSU initiates legal action against the student, WSU may disclose to the court any educational records of the student that are relevant to the legal action.

     (m) Information may be disclosed in conformance with other exceptions to the prior written consent requirement of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and implementing regulations found at 34 C.F.R. § 99. A copy of these regulations may be obtained from the Office of the Registrar.

     (2) Where the consent of a student is obtained for the release of education records, it shall be in writing, signed and dated by the person giving such consent, and shall include:

     (a) A specification of the records to be released,

     (b) The reasons for such release, and

     (c) The names of the parties to whom such records will be released unless the nature of the activity is such that advance identification of recipients is not possible such as employment assistance provided by the university office of career services and placement, in which case an effort will be made to identify recipients of information as they become known.

     (3) In cases where records are made available without student consent as permitted by WAC 504-21-050 (1)(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (i) and (j) the university shall maintain a record which will indicate the parties which have requested or obtained access to a student's records maintained by the university and which will indicate the legitimate interest of the requesting party. Releases in accordance with WAC 504-21-050 (1)(a) need not be recorded.

     (4) Personally-identifiable education records released to third parties, with or without student consent, shall be accompanied by a printed statement indicating that the information cannot be subsequently released in a personally-identifiable form to any other parties without obtaining consent of the student unless such disclosures are made pursuant to WAC 504-21-050 (1)(g), (h), (j), (k), or (l) or the information released is directory information as defined in paragraph 5 of this section.

     (5) The term "directory information" used in WAC 504-21-050 (1) is defined as student's name (including any former name), local and permanent addresses and telephone numbers, electronic mail address(es), major and minor fields of study, ((class (e.g., freshman, sophomore))), participation in officially-recognized activities in sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance ((including number of hours enrolled)), enrollment status (e.g., undergraduate of graduate; full time or part-time), grade level, degrees, certificates, and awards received including the president's honor roll, and the most recent previous educational institution attended by the student. Students may request that the university not release directory information by filing a request with the registrar's office or the office of payroll services.

     (6) Information from education records may be released to appropriate persons in connection with an emergency if the knowledge of such information is necessary to protect the health or safety of a student or other person(s).

[Statutory Authority: RCW 28B.30.150 and 20 U.S.C. 1232g. 95-07-043, § 504-21-050, filed 3/8/95, effective 4/8/95; Order 77-1, § 504-21-050, filed 5/2/77.]

     Reviser's note: The bracketed material preceding the section above was supplied by the code reviser's office.

     Reviser's note: The typographical errors in the above section occurred in the copy filed by the agency and appear in the Register pursuant to the requirements of RCW 34.08.040.

     Reviser's note: The unnecessary underscoring in the above section occurred in the copy filed by the agency and appears in the Register pursuant to the requirements of RCW 34.08.040.

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