Users Guide to the Principles for Professional Conduct
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Principles for Career Services Professionals
7. Disclosure of student information
"Any disclosure of student information outside of the educational institution will be with prior consent of the student unless health and/or safety considerations necessitate the dissemination of such information. Career services professionals will exercise sound judgment and fairness in maintaining the confidentiality of student information, regardless of the source, including written records, reports, and computer data bases." (See Employer Principle 7; see Third Party Principle 6)
(Intent / Rationale / Scenario / Resolution / Resources)
Student privacy will be protected.
Privacy must be guarded. By maintaining confidentiality we protect individuals from being harmed by information falling into the wrong hands. We are also protecting them from the embarrassment and sense of personal violation that often accompany having had their confidentiality breached.
Because staff and faculty have access to student records, there can be a subtle sense that confidentiality is less important than the "need to know," so as to advise and support students. Thus a faculty member, trying to be helpful, might feel it is acceptable to share personal information about students with employers. But while the motive may be pure, the student’s right to privacy must be the first priority.
At the end of a day, the career services recruiting coordinator meets with a company’s recruiters to debrief them about their interviewing experience. The interviewers note that a student did not appear to have the necessary grades to be invited for an onsite interview. The recruiting coordinator knows that the student has been a single parent and that this has accounted for her lack of extracurricular activity and her grades. Apparently she has not shared this information with the recruiter. The recruiting coordinator wishes to protect the student’s privacy but thinks that the recruiters would feel differently about her if they had the entire picture.
Despite the recruiting coordinator’s good intentions, it would not be appropriate to reveal this information without the permission of the student. The recruiting coordinator could contact the student and ask if she would like to discuss her interviewing and job search progress. The recruiting coordinator could ask the student how she explains her grades to employers. It is the student’s choice whether or not to mention her parental responsibilities. Minimally, she may need to deal with the appearance her grades give to her candidacy.
Kaplan, Rochelle. "The DOE on Disclosing Student Files." Spotlight, April 15, 1997.
NACE. "NACE Consent to Disclose Form."
NACE Principles for Professional Conduct Committee. "A Faculty Guide to Ethical and Legal Standards in Student Hiring."
