The results of 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 conduct 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 conduct 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 a conduct records release form to the office of student rights and responsibilities. FERPA does permit disclosure of the final results of a conduct 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 conduct 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 review board are not to discuss cases outside of a hearing. Information submitted in hearings will be maintained in private files (as part of a student’s education records) by the office of student rights and responsibilities under the direction of the dean of students office 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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