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 of their students, Mary and Bob. The faculty sends an email, with both students' email addresses on the “to” line, and in the body of the message gives information about Mary’s grade and Bob’s grade. This would violate FERPA because it discloses private student data. Faculty and staff should take care to only include private student data in an email when the recipients are allowed to view that information. Incidents such as these can be referred to security@umn.edu.