Walsh University is covered by, and subscribes to, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) - informally known as the Buckley Amendment. This law permits students the right of confidentiality and the right to inspect and review their educational record as maintained by the appropriate offices and agencies of the University.
Parents requesting information about their son or daughter may hear faculty or staff refer to FERPA and your student’s rights when informing you that we are unable to answer some questions you may have.
We understand this can be frustrating for you. At these times:
- Request that your son or daughter provide the faculty or staff member with written permission for university staff to discuss the situation with you. This may include a general waiver form, or a department specific form as required by law (Counseling Services, Health Services, Judicial Affairs, etc.) Please know if we hear from you and we do not have a waiver, we will explain the process to you, and also outreach to your student to request the waiver as well.
- Note: If your son or daughter has not given us permission to speak to you, we may not even be able to acknowledge that the current status of the student in our conversation with you.
- Ask your student for an accurate and complete description of the situation. We often find when speaking with the parent that critical information was not shared that helps put the situation into context.
- Please know that if we need to address a concern with your son or daughter, we will be addressing their behaviors and the choices they made, not judging them as a person. This is an important distinction in our student development professions. In our discussions, we help them to identify the impact of the choices they made (on self and others), discover alternative choices for the future, and discuss the educational outcomes that must occur.
- We expect students to make mistakes at college. We also expect them to accept responsibility for these mistakes and learn from them. You can assist us by making it as safe as possible for students to own their mistakes which makes them more open to the educational process to occur. These poor choices are often valuable lessons that must be learned that if not address and continue, will be issues that will cause problems in their career and personal lives in the future.
- Please note, there are some academic and disciplinary proceedings in which parents will not be allowed to participate. We are however, willing to educate you on the process so you can best support and help prepare your student, provided a FERPA waiver has been signed.