Under this Act, students have the right to inspect and review their education records and have the right to challenge records when they are inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights.
The University of Maine at Farmington has designated certain information contained in the education records of its students as Directory Information for purposes of FERPA.
Such Directory Information may be publicly shared by the University unless the student has taken formal action to restrict its release.
Directory Information includes: name (now both legal and preferred / chosen names), address (now limited to the Mailing Address type only), program of study, dates of attendance, enrollment status (full or part-time), degrees and awards received, most recent previous educational institution attended, participation in sports and activities, and appropriate personal athletics statistical data.
Updated July 2023
The following Directory Information items have been changed:
- Name data now includes both legal and preferred / chosen names.
If a preferred / chosen name is declared by a student, it will take the place of a legal name, except in instances where the use of the legal name is required (e.g. federal reporting).
- Physical addresses are now limited to the Mailing Address type only.
All other address types (e.g. home, campus, etc.) are no longer included in the Directory.
The following items have been removed from Directory Information:
- Phone number (all types)
- Date of Birth
While University of Maine System personnel may no longer disclose phone numbers, date of birth, or addresses other than Mailing as Directory Information, that information is still available to be accessed for legitimate education purposes in the same manner as other non-Directory items (e.g. student ID numbers, gender, etc.) are now.
Again, students may request that their Directory Information not be released at any time while they are an enrolled student at UMF.
To do this, students must submit a Request to Suppress Directory Information form to the UMF Merrill Center.
See our confidentiality, privacy and FERPA disclosure policy in full (pdf)