FERPA Q&A

Q: May a faculty member include a student’s grade in an email if the email is sent to multiple students?

A: Suppose a faculty member needs to communicate midterm grade information to two students. The faculty sends an email, with both students' email addresses on the “to” line, and in the body of the message gives information about both students’ grades. This would violate FERPA because it discloses private student data. Faculty and staff should never share information like this with multiple email recipients. Emails with private student data should only be sent to that particular student. Incidents such as these can be referred to abuse@umn.edu.