Students concerned about the privacy of their academic records might be able to put their worries to rest thanks to OU's recent implementation of a strict faculty-access policy.

The registrar's office has implemented a university policy enforcing the guidelines of the 1974 federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects students' academic records from being released without their consent and prevents the misuse of the information contained in students' DARS reports.

OU has not had any privacy violations involving student academic records, said John Burns, OU's legal affairs director.

But University Registrar Bill Jones and Associate Registrar Deb Benton were concerned about the federal act's absence of specific guidelines and its failure to consider recent technological advances allowing universities to store students' academic records on computer databases, Jones said.

The increased use of electronic databases to store information has facilitated the functions of the registrar's office, which serves as the backbone of OU's advising service. But these technological advances also pose a threat to the privacy of academic records, which are stored on a database called the Student Information System, Jones said.

"The concern was how to approach expanding access without it being abused," he said.

The proposal requires staff and faculty members who have electronic access to student academic records to sign a statement promising to follow the FERPA's general principles.

The proposal was designed to increase the visibility of database user guidelines, Jones said.

It also outlines specific restrictions that apply to students' academic privacy rights, Benton said.

"We have something to fall back on in case there is a violation," she said.

Although students and faculty benefit from the convenient electronic access to academic records, the proposal serves as an important safeguard for students' privacy, said Margaret Goodwin, assistant dean for student services of OU's College of Health and Human Services.

"I think it (the policy) was a sensible thing to do," she said.

The faculty and staff compliance statement strengthens students' right to academic privacy, said junior Maria Frank, a comprehensive communications major.

"If they abuse it (registered users), now they know out in the open that there's a consequence," she said.

When Benton and Jones were researching their proposal last year, they found most other universities had not written similar proposals, although many shared the same concerns, Jones said.

But since OU implemented the policy, several other universities and colleges nationwide have adopted OU's policy to protect students' academic privacy rights, Jones said.