FAQ for Faculty and Staff

Richmond faculty and staff who need access to student contact information can access that information through the Outlook Directory, BannerWeb, and Blackboard. However, any faculty or staff member who accesses student contact information must refrain from disclosing a student’s email address, phone number, or address to any individual who is not a University employee or other school official under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) unless the individual student has provided affirmative written consent for the disclosure. A faculty or staff member may disclose one student’s contact information to another student for educational purposes or University business or operations, provided the student has not requested "Confidentiality." If a student has requested "Confidentiality," then that student’s written consent is required to share an email address, phone number or address with other students. To avoid disclosing the email addresses of a student who has requested "Confidentiality," when communicating with multiple students, faculty and staff may blind copy students or use a listserv or other tool to protect individual student email addresses from disclosure.

Additionally, unless consent is provided, Richmond schools and departments will need to redact student contact information from departmental websites.

Faculty members will retain access to class roster information in BannerWeb and Blackboard. Additionally, faculty and staff will have the ability to look for student email addresses in Outlook.

A student can request "Confidentiality" by notifying the Registrar in writing that he or she does not wish to permit disclosure of their directory information. Forms are available in the Registrar’s Office. For students who have requested "Confidentiality," the word "Confidential" appears in BannerWeb on their record and by their name in class rosters.

Yes, in this case, an email will satisfy the consent requirement if it is sent from the student’s University of Richmond account (@richmond.edu address) to an employee’s official University of Richmond account (@richmond.edu address). The email must provide clear consent for a department to disclose the student’s email address, address, and/or phone number. Upon receipt of the email consent, the department should reply to the student, acknowledge the given consent and provide the student with contact information if they decide to withdraw the consent, correct/modify their information, or review the information disclosed. The department must then keep a permanent copy of the consent message (such as a saved pdf) until the disclosed information is removed.

Here is some suggested language: "I affirmatively consent to the internal, non-public disclosure of my address, telephone number and email addresses solely for purposes (1) internal use within the University community, including facilitating email communications and student directory information and (2) internal use in the University processes. I understand that my contact information will not be publicly available."

No, you do not need to remove their access. Student workers (paid and unpaid) are school officials under FERPA policy and therefore disclosure of contact information is not made under the directory information exception and HB1 is not applicable. If a student worker is expected to access this information as a part of their job duties, then these student workers are Richmond employees and University officials with the need to know this information. While these student workers and other employees who handle this information must be made aware that they may not disclose this information without supervisory authorization and written consent from the affected students, no additional action is needed for their continued access to this information. It is advisable to remind student workers who access this information for their Richmond employment that they may not access or use it for any purpose other than as necessary for their assigned job duties.

Yes, student members of University Committees may have access to email address, phone numbers and addresses of other students to fulfill their responsibilities. This is appropriate under the same FERPA exception that allows student workers access. These students should also be made aware that they may not disclose information without specific authorization and written consent of the affected students.

Faculty members are allowed to access student contact information if they need that information to perform their assigned job duties. Richmond faculty will have continued access to this information through the Outlook Directory.

Emails, phone calls, and in person communications can be used to interact with students. However, faculty and staff members must take precaution when handling student contact information; without written consent from the student, faculty members cannot share the student’s email address, address, and phone number with any third party. Faculty members may share a student’s email address, address, and phone number with another University student for educational purposes or for University operations and business purposes as long as that student has not requested "Confidentiality."

Yes, group email to multiple students are allowed for educational purposes or for University operations and business, as long as no student intended to be included on the group email has requested "Confidentiality." To avoid having to determine whether students have requested "Confidentiality," faculty and staff members may add the students’ email addresses in the blind copy (bcc) field, or email the students through a listserv.

Yes, to avoid having to determine whether students have requested "Confidentiality," you could use a sign-up sheet or individual sheets for each student that say "By signing below I consent to have my email address and other contact information shared with other students in Class X for the Y semester."

Departments may disclose student information to a third party contractor as a "school official" if the University has 1) a contract with the contractor, 2) has delegated a University function to the contractor, and 3) then maintains control over the contractor’s use and disclosure of the information. University of Richmond employees using third-party resources should confirm that the University has a relationship with the contractor that satisfies FERPA’s "school official" exception or seek student consent.