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  • Date:

    Hansen v. The Lutheran Univ. Ass’n. (N.D. Ind. Mar. 19, 2026)

    Opinion and Order Granting Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff, the former Assistant Director of Building Services at Valparaiso University, sued the university alleging violation of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) after his position was eliminated while he was on medical leave. The court granted summary judgment for the university, finding the university had presented unrebutted evidence that it had eliminated plaintiff’s position as part of a “planned restructuring” prior to his request for FMLA leave while noting plaintiff failed to provide evidence this rationale was pretextual. In reaching its decision, the court explained that the FMLA does not guarantee reinstatement when an employee would have been terminated regardless of leave and cautioned that suspicious timing alone is insufficient to establish retaliation.

    Topics:

    Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Faculty & Staff | Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Privacy & Transparency | Retaliation

  • Date:

    Department of Education Issues Guidance Regarding FERPA Obligations (Feb. 5, 2026)

    The Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) announced that it has launched an investigation into Tufts University and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) for potential violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) based on the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). In addition to initiating an investigation, the Department issued guidance to all institutions of higher education clarifying their obligations under FERPA to maintain student data privacy and the consequences of noncompliance. The new guidance rescinds all guidance and polices from the Biden administration that encouraged participation in the NSLVE. The guidance further states that SPPO believes that NSLVE use of student data may not qualify for the “studies exception” and advises institutions to wait until the Department completes its investigation before using any NSLVE reports or data to avoid the risk of violating FERPA.

    Topics:

    Data Privacy | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Privacy & Transparency

  • Date:

    Clark County School District v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct. (Nev. Nov. 26, 2025)

    Opinion Granting Writ of Mandamus. A school district petitioned the Supreme Court of Nevada for a writ of relief after the district court ordered it to produce all emails stored in the school district’s Google Vault cloud database that referenced a specific student, following a records request from the student’s educational decision maker. In March, the Nevada Supreme Court agreed with the district court, holding that the emails stored in school district’s Google Vault were “maintained” by the school district, and required the district court to perform an in camera review of all emails that mentioned the student to determine if they were “directly related” to the student. After the school district petitioned the court for a rehearing, the court vacated its prior opinion and, in November, issued a new ruling. The court held that emails on the district court’s cloud servers were not “maintained” for FERPA purposes unless “the school district or its agent takes affirmative and intentional steps to treat the email as an institutional record and stores it with a designated individual in a designated place.” The court also clarified FERPA’s “directly related” requirement, noting that “an email that merely mentions a student does not necessarily directly relate to and bear a close connection to the student.”

    Topics:

    Data Privacy | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Privacy & Transparency

  • Date:

    FERPA and PPRA Dear Educator Letter (Mar. 28, 2025)

    U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (the Department) Dear Educator Letter (the Letter) re: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) Compliance. The Letter is directed to Chief State School Officers and Superintendents at primary and secondary educational institutions receiving federal funding and specifically notes priority concerns related to the classification of “gender plans” as well as the classification of death threats made by students against other students. The Letter states that the Department stands with parents in exercising their rights to the full extent of the law and announced a revitalized effort to make FERPA and PPRA the source of proactive, effective checks on schools that try to keep parents in the dark. Finally, the Letter requests that each state primary and secondary educational agency submit documentation no later than April 30, 2025, to provide assurance that the state agency and respective local educational agencies are complying with FERPA and PPRA, regarding the priority concerns. 

    Topics:

    Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Freedom of Information & Public Record Laws | Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation Discrimination | Privacy & Transparency

  • Date:

    Vanderbilt Univ. v. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd. (M.D. Tenn. Dec. 12, 2024)

    Memorandum Opinion and Order granting Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction in part, granting Defendant’s Motion to Dissolve in part, and denying Defendant’s Motion to Suspend and Motion to Reconsider. Plaintiff, Vanderbilt University, brought claims against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as well as the Board’s director and regional director challenging the applications of the NLRB’s new regulations. A graduate student organizing campaign commenced at the University, where the group filed a petition with the NLRB seeking to represent 2,200 graduate students. NLRB regulations required the University to submit a position statement that included a list of the full names, work locations, shifts, and job classifications of all individuals in the proposed unit. It also asserted that insofar as the position statement omitted any of the required information, the University would be precluded from raising any issue, offering any evidence, cross-examining witnesses, or presenting any argument relating to the omitted information at the hearing. The University contends it could not provide the required information to the NLRB unless students consented in writing, or, if a FERPA exception applied, and therefore the University sought an injunction so it would not be forced to disclose protected student information. In its motion for preliminary relief, the University asked the court to require the NLRB to adopt FERPA-compliance procedures and to preserve the University’s right to fully defend and participate in the Board’s proceedings regarding the election petition. In this case of first impression, the court granted the University’s request for preliminary relief regarding the conflicting regulations, but only insofar as NLRB compliance might violate the APA or FERPA and denied the motion in all other respect, reasoning that the University adequately alleged a real, immediate, and direct risk of violating FERPA, “as it will be forced to decide whether to violate FERPA or the [r]egulations once an election is ordered and [plaintiff] is ordered to disclose FERPA-protected student information in a voter list.” Finally, the court granted the NLRB’s motion to dissolve to the extent the University seeks direct review of the Board’s preclusion decision and enforcement of the subpoena, and denied the motion as moot in all other respects, as well as denying the NLRB’s motions to suspend and to reconsider as moot.  

    Topics:

    Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Privacy & Transparency

  • Date:

    Better Gov’t Ass’n v. City Colleges of Chi., (Ill. App. Sep. 19, 2024)

    Opinion reversing in part the Circuit Court’s grant of Summary Judgment, and remanding. Plaintiff, the Better Government Association, a non-profit news organization in Chicago, submitted a request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for City Colleges of Chicago’s records related to graduation rate. Plaintiff claimed the Colleges willfully violated FOIA by refusing to produce the requested records, which the College withheld or redacted based on its assertion that the records are exempt from disclosure under Section 7(1)(a) of FOIA and protected by FERPA. The Circuit granted judgment in favor of plaintiffs reasoning that the records were not exempt from FOIA as FERPA did not “specifically prohibit” their release. The Illinois Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the Colleges were prohibited by FERPA from releasing students’ personal identifiable information (PII) without consent, and that doing so could imperil their federal funding. The Court thus held that the decision was in error insofar as it found that FOIA compelled the Colleges to produce unredacted records in violation of FERPA. Therefore, the Court reversed and remanded with instructions for the lower court to conduct an in camera review of the materials to ensure that redactions removed all protected PII.   

    Topics:

    Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Freedom of Information & Public Record Laws | Privacy & Transparency

  • Date:

    NLRB GC Memo re: Clarifying Disclosure Obligations under the NLRA and FERPA (Aug. 6, 2024)

    National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Memo re: Clarifying Universities’ and Colleges’ Disclosure Obligations under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The memo notes that private colleges and universities may have obligations under the NLRA to provide a collective-bargaining representative with information about student-workers, which is otherwise protected under FERPA. The memo provides guidance on the process by which institutions should respond to information requests, including to determine whether requested information is covered by FERPA, the duty to “offer a reasonable accommodation in a timely manner and bargain in good faith with the union toward a resolution of the matter,” and to abide by any agreements reached regarding furnishing records. The memo also counsels that institutions covered by FERPA might also include a FERPA consent form “in paperwork to be completed by a student-employee upon onboarding of employment,” and provides a suggested FERPA Template Consent Form.   

    Topics:

    Collective Bargaining | Faculty & Staff | Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) & Categorization of Employees | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Privacy & Transparency

  • Date:

    Daywalker v. UTMB at Galveston (5th Cir. Jan. 9, 2024)

    Opinion affirming summary judgment in favor of the Defendant. Plaintiff, a former resident at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), brought sex and race discrimination claims and an FMLA retaliation claim against UTMB after she was placed on a remediation program for “lapses in professional behavior” in clinical documentation and timeliness and told she would need to repeat her third year when she returned from a four-month FMLA leave of absence. In affirming summary judgment in favor of UTMB on her failure-to-promote claim, the Fifth Circuit found that (1) plaintiff’s one asserted comparator had no issues with accuracy or timeliness and was not similarly situated and (2) she was unable to overcome the documented concerns of numerous faculty members to establish pretext. It further held that the “handful” of offensive statements, which she alleged were made “over the span of a few years” were insufficient to raise a question of hostile work environment or constructive discharge. In affirming summary judgment on her FMLA retaliation claim, the court found that she was unable to establish causation because the decision that she should repeat her third year was taken between when she requested a “leave of absence” and when her counsel requested that leave be converted to protected FMLA leave. The court also held that the magistrate judge did not err during discovery in ordering the redaction of identifying information from potential comparator evidence because medical residents are also students for the purposes of FERPA.

    Topics:

    Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Privacy & Transparency | Race and National Origin Discrimination | Retaliation | Sex Discrimination | Sex Discrimination in Employment

  • Date:

    U.S. Dep.’t of Education Regulatory Agenda for Spring 2023—FERPA (June 13, 2023)

    U.S. Department of Education Uniform Regulatory Agenda for Spring 2023. The filing indicates that the Department of Education plans to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in November 2023 to amend its FERPA regulations.  

    Topics:

    Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | Privacy & Transparency

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