The results of informal and formal community standards resolution meetings and hearings are subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and can be disclosed only in accordance with the Act. Under FERPA, a school may not ordinarily disclose a student’s community standards records to any third party unless the student has provided written consent. Hampshire College may notify the parents/guardians of students when a student’s enrollment at the College is subject to change due to any behavioral situation or College policy violation. Parental notification may also be utilized by administrators when permitted by FERPA.
If a student chooses to provide written consent for disclosure of information they may do so be submitting an email requesting to do so to the Office of Community Standards and Student Accountability at studentsuccess@hampshire.edu. FERPA does permit disclosure of the final results of a community standards meeting and/or hearing to the victim or to the reported victim’s next of kin, when appropriate, of any crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense regardless of whether the institution concluded a violation was committed. An institution may also disclose to anyone—not just the victim—the final results of a community standards meeting and/or hearing if it determines that a student is an alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense, and with respect to the allegation made against them, the student has committed a violation of the institution’s rules or policies. Under the Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act, the College is required to disclose the results of a conduct or hearing to the victim, when the proceedings involve a sex offense.
Members of the community standards review board are not to discuss situations or matters outside of a hearing. Information submitted in hearings will be maintained in private files (as part of a student’s education records) by the College for a period of seven (7) years and then destroyed or no longer reported with the exception of suspensions and expulsions, which remain a permanent part of a student's educational record.
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