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Policies, Procedures & Guidelines
Smith College Policy on Access to and Privacy of Records
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This statement is issued by Smith College in accordance with the United States Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)
as amended. The purpose of the act is to give students and former students access to their official records at the college, to provide an
opportunity to correct inaccurate or misleading statements and to ensure that records are not released to unauthorized persons without the
consent of the student.

According to the terms of the act, access may be provided to administrative officers and members of the faculty who have legitimate
educational interest, including outside contractors, consultants, volunteers or other parties to whom the college has outsourced institutional
services or functions; to certain specified agents of the government for the purposes of enforcement and study; to accrediting organizations;
to military personnel for recruitment purposes; to other educational agents and institutions in connection with applications for admission and
requests for financial aid; to organizations conducting studies for or on behalf of the college; and to comply with a judicial order or lawfully
issued subpoena. All authorized persons outside the college who request access will be required to file a written, signed statement of purpose;
this statement will be kept on file and will be made available for inspection only to the student upon request.

Records may be released in certain cases of health or safety emergency. They may be sent to parents of a dependent student or such parents as
defined in section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. It is the policy of the college to notify both the dependent student and her
parents in writing of a change in status (i.e., probation, dismissal, certain academic warnings).

In communications with parents concerning other matters, it is normally college policy to respect the privacy of the student and not to
disclose information from student education records without the prior consent of the student. At the request of the student, such information
will be provided to parents and guardians. Students may authorize the release of information from their educational records to their parent by
completing the appropriate form at the registrar's office.

Transcripts of or information concerning student records will be released to other persons outside the college only with the written consent
of the student or upon subpoena, in which case the student will be notified. The act stipulates that the student’s written consent indicates
which records are to be released, the reasons for such release and to whom the copies are to be released. A copy of the material to be released
may be requested by the student.
Certain information, designated as “directory information,” may be released without consent. At Smith College, this information includes the
following: name; home address and telephone number (while enrolled); college address and telephone number; Smith email address; date of
birth; dates of attendance (current and past); enrollment status (full-time or part-time); academic/class level; fields of study (major[s], minor,
concentration, certificate); degrees, honors, and awards received, including date(s) received; participation in college extra-curricular activities
(if known); height and weight of members of college athletic teams; previously attended educational institution(s); student identification
number that is (1) used by a student for purposes of accessing or communicating in electronic systems or (2) displayed on a student ID card
or elsewhere, but only if it cannot be used, standing alone, by an unauthorized individual to gain access to protected education records except
when used in conjunction with one or more factors that authenticate the user’s identity known or possessed only by authorized user(s);
photographs and digital images. A student or former student who is unwilling to have this information released to inquirers without consent
must follow the process detailed on the registrar’s office website and submit a signed Request to Prevent Disclosure of Directory Information
form. In the case of former students, the college reserves the right to verify degrees.

Students’ official records include records, files, documents and other materials containing information directly related to a student that are
maintained by the college. They do not include notes kept by instructors, advisers or deans for their own use and available to them only; such
notes are maintained by individual administrators and are destroyed when no longer relevant or useful.

Records maintained by the Health Services to provide treatment to the student are not available to anyone other than the persons providing
the treatment, but such records can be reviewed by a physician or other appropriate professional with the written consent of the student.

Confidential letters and statements of recommendation placed in the record prior to January 1, 1975, are not accessible to students. Students
may waive their right of access to statements written after that date provided such waiver is not required by the institution and the statements
are used for no purpose other than that for which they were written.

Student records at Smith are described below. Procedures for students who wish to consult their records are as follows:

1. Obtain an “access request” form at the Office of the Registrar. Complete the form and give it to one of the members of the registrar’s staff.
The record will be available for inspection in the class deans’ office one week after the date of the request.

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