These rights afforded to students through the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are:

1. The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day the College receives a request for access. Students should submit to the registrar, dean, chair, or other appropriate College official written requests that identify the record(s) they wish to inspect. The College official will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained by the College official to whom the request was submitted, that official shall advise the student of the correct official to whom the request should be addressed.
2. The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the student believes is inaccurate or misleading. Students may ask the College to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate or misleading. They should write the College official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the College decides not to amend the record as requested by the student, the College will notify the student of the decision and advise the student of his or her right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.
3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is defined as a person employed by the College in an administrative, supervisory, academic or support staff position (including law enforcement and health staff); a person or company with whom the College has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks.  The College uses contractors, volunteers, in-service providers to provide College services and functions.  A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility.
4. Upon request, the College may disclose education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intend to enroll.  Examples of this are any collaborative programs that Cornish is involved in, for example the AICAD mobility and New York Studio Residency programs.  These collaborative programs result in dual enrollment at both schools and Cornish will disclose certain information from the student’s education records to the other institution under the program.
5. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning Failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:  Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW  Washington, DC 20202-4605

DIRECTORY INFORMATION:

Under FERPA, colleges may disclose a predefined set of information (known as Directory Information) to third party inquiry without the student’s prior consent unless the student has specifically indicated they wish this information also be kept private.   At Cornish, the following are considered to be Directory Information:  name, telephone number, email, major, class level (eg, sophomore),  image/credits in photographs and video, printed name on event programs and posters, degrees and awards, dates of attendance, and enrollment status (eg, full time).

For Directory Information, the College maintains three levels of disclosure permission:

• OK to Release (default disclosure for all enrolled students)
• Privacy Hold with Publicity Exception — Student’s presence at the College not disclosed to 3rd party inquiry (e.g. employers, family, media), but is ok for student to appear in internal student directories and for name to be printed on event programs and posters, as well as student image/credits to be included in photographs and videos.
• Privacy Hold No Exception — Student’s presence at the College not disclosed to 3rd party inquiry (e.g. employers, family, media). College will exclude student from student directories and from all public promotional materials unless specific permission is first obtained.

See also our online FERPA tutorial.