• All persons involved in the delivery of the academic advising program must adhere to the highest principles of ethical behavior. The academic advising program must implement statements of ethical practice. The academic advising program must publish these statements and ensure their periodic review by all concerned.

• The academic advising program must ensure that confidentiality is maintained for all records and communications (i.e., paper and electronic), unless exempted by law.

• Information disclosed in individual academic advising sessions must remain confidential, unless written permission to divulge the information is given by the student. However, all academic advising personnel must disclose to appropriate authorities information judged to be of an emergency nature, especially when the health and safety of the individual or others are involved.

• All academic advising personnel must strive to ensure the fair, objective, and impartial treatment of all persons with whom they interact.

• All academic advising personnel must ensure that institutional funds are managed in accordance with established and responsible accounting procedures.

• All academic advising personnel must maintain the highest principles of ethical behavior in the use of technology.

• All academic advising personnel must not participate in any form of harassment that demeans persons or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive campus environment.

• All academic advising personnel must perform their duties within the limits of their training, expertise, and competence. When these limits are exceeded, individuals in need of further assistance must be referred to persons possessing appropriate qualifications.

• All academic advising personnel must use suitable means to confront unethical behavior exhibited within the educational community.

Access to information is critical to your daily operation, and, with the ever-expanding number of applications, you have a variety of information at your fingertips.  In our efforts to acquire as much information as possible, we do need to keep in mind how we use it and to whom we release it.

While all users of RARSTU (the student inquiry application) and RARDAT (the student data retrieval application) should keep the following in mind, it is important to point out that all employees of the University of Houston who deal with students or student information need to exercise the same caution.  We ask therefore, that you forward or share this information with all employees who deal with students or work with student records or information.  You may also reference the following:

a. The current Student Handbook: http://www.uh.edu/dos/hdbk/acad/ferpa.html

b.  The current Undergraduate Catalog: http://www.uh.edu/academics/catalog/general/acade2.html#confidentiality

c.   Registration and Academic Records: http://www.uh.edu/enroll/rar/ferpa.html

Student records are released by departments, colleges and the Office of the Registrar for use ONLY by faculty and staff for authorized university related purposes.  The release of student records or information for off-campus use (i.e. businesses, other institutions, agencies, individuals, etc.) occurs only with the student’s knowledge and consent, where required by law, or upon subpoena. Release of specific student records for off-campus use is normally channeled through the Office of the Registrar with some exceptions, i.e. college or departmental recognition or announcements, or for reporting and planning purposes by the Office of Institutional Research (formerly Planning and Policy Analysis).

Retention and maintenance of student records must be in compliance with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, the basic concept of which is that an individual’s personal privacy is directly affected by the kinds of disclosures and the uses of personally identifiable information contained in a record.

When we deal with paper records we must insure that all student records are kept in locked areas and handled in a security conscious manner.  Student records must be hand carried only by faculty or university staff to the Office of Registration and Academic Records, 104 Ezekiel W. Cullen Building, the faculty/staff window in 105 Ezekiel W. Cullen, or to any other department. [Student records should NEVER be sent through inter-office mail.]

Class roll reports and other university information that includes students’ names and social security or student ID’s should be handled with care to assure confidentiality. For example, copies of grade sheets or class rolls should under NO circumstances be released to students.  Don’t forget that the term “student records” covers information downloaded to a disc.  Do NOT leave computer discs or printouts with student information on your desk or easily accessible areas. Lock up this information when you are not using it.  If you are creating reports from downloaded information from RARDAT remember that if they contain information that specifies the student, then FERPA guidelines cover this as well.  Such reports are for internal use only and must have the notation CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION - USE RESTRICTED TO UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON PERSONNEL.

Be careful when disposing of student record information. Disposal should be done with confidentiality in mind.  Do not put student information, i.e. essay booklets, test papers, classrolls, gradebooks, reports, discs, etc. in the garbage or in boxes in the hallway with the hope that sometime in your lifetime these will be thrown out or properly disposed.  Either shred or mutilate the record, printout, or disc before it is thrown away.

Faculty and teaching assistants should be reminded that they can not post class rolls or grade sheets containing the students’ names or student identification numbers or a combination of students’ names and numbers.  Nor should they give students originals or copies of class rolls or grade sheets or forms that change grades.  They should also exercise caution when returning graded work to students.  Grades should be inside the cover of essay booklets or obscured in some fashion.  Grade books, student information and graded work not returned to the students should be kept in locked files in a secure area and destroyed appropriately after the minimum six month retention period.

Students are able to use VIP to determine if they are appropriately enrolled in specific classes as well as their grades.  Encourage faculty and Teaching Assistants to remind students to use VIP in this manner rather than attempting to post information that will be in violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.

Under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act certain “public” information can be released UNLESS the student has requested that the information on their record considered to be “public” should be “private”. If students do not want public information to be released, they are responsible for notifying the Office of Registration and Academic Records, 108 Ezekiel W. Cullen during the first week of class to ensure that public information is not released by the University of Houston or published in the student directory.  Students who have made a request for privacy will have a message on their records in RARSTU indicating “PRIVACY PROTECTED - DO NOT RELEASE”.

The Student Directory is generally published in a hard copy form each fall. However, the University is now providing student directory information through the web at www.uh.edu/dir_services.  Students who have requested privacy or have withdrawn from the University for the semester will not be listed. Students are also responsible for requesting the release of their information once the request to withhold public information has been placed on the record.

Instructors who present curricula in a manner where students work in groups or interact with each other and know each other’s name or e-mail addresses should publish in their syllabi or web page a statement indicating such will occur.  The following statement can be used in these documents regarding student e-mail addresses:

"The format of this course and section requires that student names and e-mail addresses be shared by the enrolled students in order to facilitate communication and complete assignments."

Public information on a student’s record that may be released if no request to withhold it is on the record includes the following 3 areas:

No other information may be released through any University of Houston office by phone or in person and no other information should be released to persons other than the student without permission from the student or where required by law or upon subpoena.

If a student you do not know, requests information or wants to discuss their academic record or career, you should ask to see their student ID or some form of picture identification card, i.e. drivers license, immigration card, passport, etc. before any information other than public information may be released.  Information pertaining to a student may be disclosed to the parents or legal guardian ONLY with the prior written consent of the student, or without prior written consent IF the student is a dependent as defined by the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. You may contact the Archival Unit of Registration and Academic Records to determine if a request for Release of Records based on Dependency is in the student’s file or parents should be referred to Registration and Academic Records, 108 E. Cullen to complete the request and provide a copy of their last income tax return.

It is critical that all employees including those with access to RARSTU and RARDAT student academic and demographic information are informed and understand these restrictions. The only people allowed to view the student’s information should be authorized faculty and staff and the student.  In addition, employees in your department or college must memorize access and entry codes instead of displaying them or keeping them “handy”.  This will help to prevent unauthorized access to student information or access by someone who does not understand or know of these requirements.

No matter how expeditious it may seem at the time, do not permit anyone to log in to your USERID or to use the database under your USERID.  (There are a variety of reasons for this, which include legal considerations and security concerns.  Some of you have additional access to data maintenance applications that can be used to change student records.) If you have employees you wish to have access to student information, first make sure they have applied for a USERID and received training for the administrative cluster of the VAX. (Their USERID’s will look like “HDEPTXXX”.) User Services generally has a training session every other week. Then contact Registration and Academic Records at ext. 39028 or in writing (104 E. Cullen/RAR2161) and ask for the Request for Access to RARSTU. A form will be sent to the person you indicate and after it is completed and returned to Registration and Academic Records a training session will be set up. Generally training sessions for RARSTU are in the first or second week of each month.

Please check the information in the class schedule each time it comes out since FERPA compliance requirements do change in response to the times, court cases, etc.

Ready access to information can sometimes make us forget the usual cautions we might observe if we had to go to locked files for paper documents.   If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Academic Advising Core Values

·        Advisors are responsible to the students and individuals they serve, and provide dependable, accurate, respectful, honest, friendly and professional service. 

·        Advisors help students develop a perception of themselves and their relationship to the future

·        Advisors encourage self-reliance by helping stu­dents make informed and responsible decisions; set realistic goals; and develop thinking, learning, and life-management skills to meet present and future needs. 

·        Advisors work to modify barriers to student progress; to identify burdensome, ineffective, an inefficient policies and procedures; and to effect change.

·        Advisors recognize the changing nature of the college and university environment and of the student body.

·        Advisors are knowledgeable about and sensitive to federal, state, and institutional policies and procedures.

·        Advisors respect the rights of students to have information about themselves kept confidential.

·        Advisors gain access to and use computerized information about students only when that infor­mation is relevant to the advising they are doing.

·        Advisors are responsible for involving others in the advising process, when appropriate.

·        Advisors are facilitators and mediators. 

·        Advisors are responsible to the college or university in which they work and abide by the specific policies, procedures, and values of those units.

·        Advisors are responsible to higher education generally. 

·        Academic advisors honor (and are pro­tected by) the concept of academic freedom. 

·        Academic advisors believe that it is ultimately the responsibility of students to apply what they learn to everyday situations. 

·        Advisors advocate for students’ educational achievement at the highest attainable standard and support student goals as well as the educa­tional mission of the institution.

·        Academic advisors interpret the institution’s mis­sion, standards, goals, and values to its communi­ty, including the public and private schools from which the institution draws its student body.

·        Advisors are sensitive to the values and mores of the surrounding community, sharing these with and interpreting them to students. 

·        Advisors are responsible to their professional role as advisors and to themselves personally and keep their advising skills honed.

·        Advisors understand the demands on them­selves that emerge from the nature of the work they do and develop skills for taking care of themselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

Excerpted from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA): Standards and Guidelines http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Profres/standard.htm