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The professor of a US university where I graduated from with a master's degree maintains a website that he makes available for public search. He lists students that attended one of his courses, including the groups they were in and the topics they chose for presentation. When someone does a public search with my name using google or yahoo, this information comes up.

This has been published for many years and I recently requested the IT department and the professor to block my name from public search. I do not provide such information myself online and it is more than annoying for me that this information is available on the internet. So far, the university has refused to remove my name.

Which department of a university handles complaints of such a nature? Is there any law that entitles me to get a removal? Do I need to hire a lawyer for such a silly issue? What course of action do you recommend?

cag51
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Leslie
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    Legal issues aside, it could be helpful to ask why the professor does not want to remove your name. I’d guess something like: when he is assessed for grant applications, internal promotions, etc, this website may be read as a record of his teaching experience. If you know his motivation, then you can try to suggest an alternative which works for to you both: e.g. that on the public-facing webpage he could give a disclaimer “some student names omitted by request, for privacy reasons”, while still including the full list in non-public versions of the document. – PLL Apr 11 '16 at 17:24
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    Contact the ombudsman (if there is one) or the legal affairs office. The ombudsman/student advisory committee may refuse because you're not a current student. Alternatively, would you be satisfied if the professor changed your names to initials? – mkennedy Apr 11 '16 at 18:16
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    Did they affirmatively refuse to remove your name, or did they just not respond? – Mark Plotnick Apr 11 '16 at 22:53
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    I don't really understand, why it is so important for you. It serves as a proof for you, for example as the validity of your degree. I suggest don't believe this pathologic data protection hyteria (especially while surely you also have a lot of google, apple, etc. accounts), and actually what you need is not hiding your data, but advertise it. Advertise yourself, for the academic programs selections and the workplace HRs of the future. – peterh Apr 12 '16 at 09:13
  • If you were in EU you could use the right to be forgotten. AFAIK nothing like that exists in the US. – Bakuriu Apr 12 '16 at 10:54
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    What are you hiding? That you have obtained a master's degree with a US institution? Why does it bother you that your name returns this search result? Even with this removed, your name likely returns many other results... – SnakeDoc Apr 12 '16 at 16:42
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    @SnakeDoc: I don't think it is up to us to question why. – cbeleites unhappy with SX Apr 12 '16 at 19:35
  • (slightly off topic) @peterh: I disagree with your point of view. Someone who is trying to keep their privacy on the internet can easily have more shadow accounts than real acounts. And while I do not question your right to advertise yourself as much as you like, I equally grant the OP the right to limit the advertisements about them. – cbeleites unhappy with SX Apr 12 '16 at 19:43
  • @peterh: I have earned a masters. Why would a website that states I participated in a specific course validate my degree? Why would I need to validate my degree in the first place? Fact is, not everyone likes to "advertise" himself on the www. To SnakeDoc I asked for advice, not for your personal sentiments. Things are not always black and white. At least not in my world. So, all those people who don't put their resume or other aspects of their personal lives online, have something to hide? It sounds more like you have something to hide. Thanks to those who answered my question! FERPA it is. – Leslie Apr 15 '16 at 10:47
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    @Leslie In your reply you are argumenting about everything, with a single exception: WHY you won't exist in that course in the Google. There is clearly no valid reason behind that; if it would, you had said it now. Thus, I can imagine 2 reasons, why is it so important for you: 1) pathologic data protection hysteria 2) maybe something isn't okay with your papers (for example, there is some data mismatch) and you see that google hit as a danger. None of the cases are acceptable reasons for your behavior. – peterh Apr 15 '16 at 12:47

1 Answers1

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In the United States, educational records - including the fact of your enrollment in this particular course - are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

FERPA prohibits disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records without the student's consent (except for directory information, which class enrollment is not - and you also have the right to limit disclosure of directory information, on request).

You can contact the professor and insist that he remove your information from his site, as he is illegally disclosing course enrollment without your consent. You can also find out who fields FERPA complaints and questions at that university (typically the registrar's office) and ask them for help in limiting disclosure of your education records. If this doesn't help, you may file a FERPA complaint here.

ff524
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    Note that "honors and awards" count as directory information, so, for example, a professor listing the names of the members of a group that won an award for their project might be an exception to your answer. That said, as you correctly mentioned, they should still comply if you request removal. Degrees earned and dates of attendance also don't require permission to release, IIRC. – reirab Apr 11 '16 at 14:55
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    It's also possible (if not likely) that OP gave consent at any number of times during his enrollment and tenure at the institution. Whether or not OP can rescind this permission is another question. – Nate Diamond Apr 11 '16 at 16:43
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    @Nate FERPA also allows students to withdraw consent for disclosure, so the answer to that other question would be "yes" – ff524 Apr 11 '16 at 16:46
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    The ed.gov page says a FERPA complaint must be "filed within 180 days of the alleged violation or within 180 days after the complainant knew or should have known about the violation." If the OP has known about the issue for years, then it's too late for them to make a FERPA complaint. – Nate Eldredge Apr 11 '16 at 19:41
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    @NateEldredge I suspect that failing to remove the information from the website on request (which was recent) also constitutes a violation. (More specifically: the student can say that he initially consented to the disclosure, and didn't do anything about it, but now wishes to withdraw that consent, and the violation is the professor's continued disclosure after withdrawal of consent.) – ff524 Apr 11 '16 at 19:48
  • This is no different in the EU. – reinierpost Apr 12 '16 at 11:42
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    @NateEldredge I'm pretty sure that clock doesn't start ticking until the violation has stopped. Kind of like you can't kidnap someone and hold them for 18 years then claim the statute of limitations has expired when the police find you. – Kevin Apr 12 '16 at 13:44
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    @ff524 are we really going to prod the OP into taking legal action against their Alma Mater?... over their name being on the website? How many people have the same name? Could be anyone, and OP needs to understand how the internet works... removing their name from the website doesn't remove the record... this is a ridiculous request. – SnakeDoc Apr 12 '16 at 16:45
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    I once submitted such a request to be removed from a professor's lab page, where I worked as a RA under her supervision for like 4 months. She was an awful person and we both hated each other's guts, so I didn't want to expose myself to the opportunity of getting backdoor reference-checked in my future employments. –  Dec 27 '21 at 21:12