In response to upsurge in review requests, Yale Law School is deleting admission evaluation records
Yale Law School has found a way to deal with an upsurge in requests for access to admission records that has recently been experienced by a number of institutions.
It is deleting many of them, Dean Robert Post told the audience at a State of the School speech last week, reports the New Republic, in an article written by a third-year law student. Admission evaluation records and career development notes are reportedly included in the purge.
Under the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, students are allowed to request their school records, so they can see and correct any inaccuracies. The statute also bans public disclosure of disciplinary measures, the article explains.
However, Students for Fair Admissions has relied on information from college admission records in filing lawsuits last year against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill over their claimed race-preference policies concerning applicants, the Chronicle of Higher Education (sub. req.) reported in November.
This week, in response to the New Republic article, the group sent letters to Yale University and six other highly regarded institutions, urging them not to destroy admission records, Students for Fair Admissions explained in a press release.
The letter to Yale’s president (PDF) notes that it is unclear from the New Republic article whether Yale may also be purging undergraduate admission evaluation records. If so, however, the letter calls for Yale to stop doing so and retrieve any deleted records, if possible, explaining that they may be needed as evidence in litigation.
Although the group raises the specter of noncompliance with FERPA, Yale Law School’s dean of admissions, Asha Rangappa, told the Chronicle of Higher Education (sub. req.) in a Thursday written statement that the school is simply reverting to its longstanding policy prior to 2001. Records were routinely discarded at the conclusion of every admissions season, Rangappa wrote, but that changed in 2001 when the process became fully electronic.
See also:
The Crimson: “Harvard Students’ Right to Read Admissions Records Confirmed”
The New York Times: “Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford”
