Experiments and learning are not limited to the classroom in college. Students sometimes experiment with drugs or learn how much alcohol they can ingest and still make their 8 a.m. English class.
Sometimes these trials can lead to charges or investigations by The University, things that would not make Mom and Dad proud.
Fortunately for students, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) restricts who can access student information. In college, a student must sign for the release of his or her records.
A new bill came before the Tennessee legislature in January that may transfer that pen to undesired hands.
According to Senate Bill 98, introduced by Sen. Rosalind Kurita (D), any "Responsible person" can access student's academic records, medical records, criminal records, or any investigations by the institute of higher education.
The bill defines a responsible person as any person who is contributing to the student's fees or tuition of the current academic year, regardless of their relationship to the student.
As long as someone is paying for the student, they can check up on him or her. They can see the last doctor's appointment at the campus health center, the last grade from a test, the investigation into misconduct on campus.
Spring semester of 2002, senior Aaron Mittelmeier was caught drinking in his dorm room on the eighth floor of Richardson Towers. Jim Beam bottles decorated the room.
The charges were dropped because of police misconduct, but he still does not think anyone needs to know about the incident unless he decides to tell them.
This bill, if passed, would allow Mittelmeier's parents to check his records. If he applies for the scholarship offered by his employer, they could access the information as well.
"What's the point of looking up my criminal record if I've maintained a 3.4 GPA?" he said.
He does not agree with a person being able to look up any information they chose simply because they are helping fund an education.
"The stuff my parents don't know about because I've handled it on my own," Mittelmeier said.
Currently FERPA forbids faculty from giving access to records to anyone other than the student. Parents or scholarship donors must ask the student to get information from private records.
The faculty at The U of M undergoes a FERPA training session where they learn about the release of student records and receive strict instructions not to release information without the student's permission.
The scholarship office receives calls daily from parents wanting to check their child's G.P.A. or the amount of awards he or she has received, according to Carrie McAdon, administrative assistant in the scholarship office. The scholarship office denies everyone information to anyone other than the student.
"Usually it has to be signed somewhere by the student," said McAdon. Many scholarships are given based on a student's academic achievements, so some believe contributing members have a certain right to see the product of their money.
"Anybody paying has an interest if the money is going to waste," said Stephen Mulroy, law professor.
Senior Josh Berman agrees that an academic scholarship recipient should be subject to academic review. "But by law they shouldn't be able to look at whatever, whenever," said the entertainment business and communications major.
Mulroy agreed that a student should have as much right to privacy as any other person.
"On the merits of it as a policy matter, I don't see the wisdom in this," he said.
