FERPA Q&A

Q: A Native American student group would like an email list of a college’s students that identify as Native American. May we supply the email list?

A: Under FERPA, an institution cannot designate race, gender, or ethnicity as “directory information.” You therefore cannot supply the email list in this case. However, you may facilitate if you like by communicating the Native American student group’s interest in hearing from students. Interested students may then “opt in” by contacting the group.

New ASR website launched

A redesigned Academic Support Resources (ASR) website launched in September. The site hosts information on training, support resources, ASR departmental contacts, and links to applications managed by ASR. The url for the site remains the same (asr.umn.edu), but internal links have changed. This means you may need to update any bookmarked pages you have. Watch a short video introducing the new ASR website.

RAC October meeting

The October meeting of the Registrar’s Advisory Committee (RAC) will be on Monday, October 3, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. in Bruininks Hall 131A. The order of this meeting will be flipped; we will start with items for everyone so that the grad/prof-only staff can leave when we reach the undergrad-only items. This will give us more flexibility in our agenda. Please note that there will be no WebEx for this meeting.
If you haven’t already, add the RAC calendar to your Google calendar. To see the time, location, and agenda for each meeting, add the following (very long) email address to the field in the “Other calendars” area: umn.edu_g032eou5mlap93fev2do6vmp7g@group.calendar.google.com.

Election day for students and staff

All day and evening classes will be held on election day, Tuesday, November 8, 2016 as scheduled. University policy does not consider voting as a legitimate absence from classes. Most state polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m, with a few exceptions. Messaging to students about planning for election day and information on how to register has been included in the Undergraduate Update and other newsletters. Students should make arrangements to vote before or after class, or via an absentee ballot. Per Minnesota state statutes, employees have the right to take time off work to vote without losing your pay, personal leave, or vacation time. More information about voting can be found on the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State site.

ECAS fixes and enhancements

On September 25, more fixes and enhancements were made to the Electronic Course Approval System (ECAS). The changes include:

• Removing a Topics attribute in ECAS will now remove the attribute in PeopleSoft.
• Updated or removed links on the main ECAS page to outdated resource materials.
• Deleting or changing a Liberal Education requirement will now delete and/or add the attribute in PeopleSoft.
• Added a Freshman Seminar attribute option.
• Added Learning Abroad attribute option.
• Added a cross-listing option.
• Updated text descriptions for multiple fields.

FERPA Q&A

Can I email a student at an alternative address if she isn't responding to her University email?

If a student is not responding to their University email, you may email an alternative address to request they check their University email account. However, you should not exchange private student data in the communication to an alternative email address. Without the University’s authentication, we cannot be assured that the email is accessed by the intended recipient.

Registrar's Advisory Committee September meeting

The next Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting will be held Monday, September 12, from 9:30-11:30 a.m., in Humphrey 50B. Bob McMaster will be presenting. All future RAC meetings will be in-person only, no longer offering the online component. This is due to staffing changes on the Twin Cities campus that affect the technical support of RAC online. Minutes will still be shared and available following the meeting.