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FERPA Strikes Again, This Time in Iowa

In a close 4-3 decision, the Iowa Supreme Court has blocked a request by the Iowa City Press-Citizen to view records at the University of Iowa related to an alleged sexual assault that took place on campus in 2007. As the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) reports today, the state's highest court held that the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits the university from releasing records containing information about students—even if all identifying information is redacted—if the school "reasonably believes" that the person or entity requesting the records knows the identity of the students. In this case, the Press-Citizen sought university records, under the state's public records law, regarding two Iowa football players who were accused of sexually assaulting a female student in her dormitory.

For more about this decision and its interpretation of FERPA, check out the SPLC's full article

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