By way of background, I am the director of a small-to-medium data collection center in my department. The center collects data from human subjects, such data collection activities being heavily scrutinized by LSU's Institutional Review Board, a departmental oversight committee, as well as the program directors at NSF and NIH. When visitors (i.e., data-generating units) have concerns about the data collection activities, they email me. I received this message this morning.
To: Angry Professor
From: Cyrus Bergerac
Re: This morning's session
Dear Angry Professor,
I and another student, a woman, were in the Center this morning at 9 a.m. for a session. While we were waiting, we struck up a conversation and we really seemed to hit it off. I know this is probably against departmental policy, but I was wondering if you could tell me her name?
I know this may sound very strange, but I had my heart broken a few months ago and I haven't been able to get over it. This woman is the first woman I've been able to talk to since then. I was going to ask her for her number but I choked. It would mean an awful lot to me if I could find out who she is.
You don't know me and so you probably worry that I might be a serial murderer or a stalker or something, so I understand if you can't give me her name. If you can't, could you maybe give her my name, so she could get in touch with me if she wanted? I would be very grateful for any help you could give me.
Sincerely,
Cyrus
Now FERPA stands in the way of True Love. Damn you, FERPA! Damn you all to hell!
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
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12 comments:
Surely FERPA would allow you, having been given permission from the student, to email the woman and say "so and so really liked you." How can you resist the chance to go back to third grade like that?
So what will you do???? Dying to know.
Aww, that is SO CUTE but that poor dude.
This sounds like a great screenplay for a romantic comedy starring some bland actors in their late 20s. I won't go see this movie, but I will hear about it incessantly from several of my co-workers.
Why didn't he just ask her what her name was when he was talking with her?
Do you at least know who he's talking about?
That's fantastic. I think you're clear with FERPA if you pass his name on to her. It's that or post a "Missed Connections" on Craigslist and hope for the best.
Another case of the vast faceless bureaucracy standing in the way of the little guy - and damn it sure is funny! I can imagine how I would feel if a researcher emailed me 'there's this guy . . . '
HAHAHAHAHA. I love the FERPA ramifications. I want to know why would a student ask such a stupid question when they could try to find this person through a school directory? Unless the woman has the highest FERPA setting then her picture should be in an internal school directory that he can access with a log-in or university pin. If he isn't smart enough to stalk her that way, he doesn't deserve her. Also, why is he emailing you and not a departmental staff person? Last but not least: boundary issues much? This is entirely odd, inappropriate, and immature. It is a good laugh, but kind of strange. I hope this guy is 18.
Ah, a chance to strike a blow for separation of love and institution!
Is this really covered by FERPA? I figured it'd be some sort of HIPAA privacy breech rather than FERPA, since they're not actually a student in one of your classes.
Student photos in the directory? Never hear of that.
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