Regents endorse FERPA updates that explicitly name certain metadata as educational records

The Board of Regents' Academic & Student Affairs committee reported it reviewed and endorsed proposed amendments to the system's Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) policy.

Committee chair Ira Blum summarized the proposed changes, noting the policy updates clarify the definition of directory information and "identify metadata — data that provides context and details for other data, for example an email sender, recipient, and stated subject, and web interaction ... as part of the educational records when directly related to students and maintained by the institution." The committee recommended the amendments for inclusion on the consent agenda.

Why it matters: the changes update institutional guidance to reflect modern digital records and metadata and are intended to bring the system policy in line with current operational practices and federal expectations. The committee noted FERPA was enacted in 1974 and that policy language needed modernization to address email and web‑based records.

Board members asked clarifying questions about the scope of metadata and implementation; the chair said the amendments bring the policy "up to date" and that campus-level procedures and training will be required to ensure appropriate handling of newly designated record types.

Next steps: the proposed FERPA amendments were included in the board packet and recommended for approval under the consent agenda; staff will continue to work with campuses on implementation details and training.