All faculty and staff who work with student records should be familiar with Iowa State’s policy concerning confidentiality of student information. This policy was established to preserve students’ rights to privacy and to conform with federal law (See the section on “Student Records” in the Iowa State University Catalog). The policy defines “public information” as information that can be released about a student unless the student has specifically requested otherwise.
For the majority of students, public information includes the student’s local address, telephone number, campus email address, hometown, college, curriculum, year in school, and enrollment status. All of the information included in the phone directory is public information. In some cases, students request that the university not release certain information about them. In such cases, the information is no longer considered public and should not be released.
Any information other than public information is considered confidential and is restricted. Do not release confidential information (e.g., grades, attendance, performance) to a student’s parents or spouse without the student’s written consent.
See the Director of ISUComm Foundation Courses if you have questions about the university’s confidentiality policies.