New Feature from Registrar Gives Students Greater Control in Disclosure of Information

August 14, 2007

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AUSTIN, Texas—A significant improvement in the way students may control disclosure of their publicly available information, including a feature enabling them to select which publicly available information may or may not be released and how that information appears in various directories, has been made available by the Office of the Registrar at The University of Texas at Austin.

This "Restrict My Information" service became available online for the fall 2007 semester to all enrolled students. Access to this service requires a UT EID (an identity code specific to each student), said Shelby Stanfield, the university's registrar.

"We encourage students to become familiar with what information about them may be given to the public, how information about students is accessed by the public and how students can control disclosure of that information," Stanfield said.

Information about students that may be considered public includes name, date of birth, address, telephone listing, major areas of study, degrees earned and other information.

The release of information from educational records of students is governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, Stanfield said. More information about FERPA is available online.

For more information contact: Robert D. Meckel, administrative communications, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.