The Ledger

Question: When do students' rights begin under FERPA?

Answer: Student rights, as they relate to his or her University record, begin as soon as a record is created. This means that all students attending orientation are protected under FERPA, even though they have not yet officially registered.

During orientation, some colleges may use peer advisers or other student staff to assist students with questions or registration. Student employees have responsibilities related to FERPA just as any full-time employee at the University does. Staff with access to student record information should only access what they need to fulfill their job duties. Student staff have the same duty to keep record information about other students private.

On May 29, all One Stop Student Services locations will close at 11:30 a.m. for a staff event. Walk-in, phone, and email services will not be available during that time at any of the four One Stop Student Services locations. Full service will resume in all locations at 8 a.m. on Thursday, May 30.

On May 22, the St. Paul, West Bank and Williamson One Stop Student Services locations will be closed from 8:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. for a staff event. If you need to meet with a counselor during this time, please come to the location in Science Teaching and Student Services.

Improvements continue to be made to the Faculty Roles List database. Reported issues of application error by non-authenticated users has been fixed. Non-authenticated users should now have access to the database, but it has been ensured that they do not have access to or can change program faculty responsibility records. Issues of slow loading on the "Search by faculty" function has also been corrected.

The Enterprise Portal team is gathering opportunities and needs for a new portal planned for late 2014. Your input will help as the team starts to prioritize opportunities and begin the design work. Please fill out this 10-15 minute survey by May 20.

Follow this link to participate in the survey or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://umn.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4Hm9ub7ZW8DrpcN

Academic Support Resources (ASR) staff are in the process of reviewing the One Stop Student Services academic calendar. The goal is to include academic dates that are the most useful and important to students, faculty,and staff, using more student friendly language. The review team welcomes your thoughts and suggestions. If you have a recommendation, please email Tina Falkner.

As mentioned previously, a PDF has been posted on the One Stop website that contains guidelines for undergraduate students petitioning to enroll in a course for a third time. These guidelines reflect the University's policy on repeating a course, which states students may repeat a U of M course or its equivalent once. So far, enforcement of the policy has been well received, and few issues have been reported.

On May 20, 2013, OCM will launch a new electronic room reservation system called Astra Schedule. A quick start guide will be available that includes instructions on how to request a classroom for an event using the new system. Scheduling staff will conduct demonstrations of the new request process and calendar functionality of the new software at the following locations across campus:

Saint Paul: Tuesday, May 21, 9-10 a.m., Ruttan B35
West Bank: Wednesday, May 22, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Blegen 10
East Bank: Thursday, May 23, 9-10 a.m., Nicholson 155

If you have any questions about this change, email OCMSoftwareHELP@umn.edu.

These policy best practice sessions are related to the transition of review and accountability of the graduate degree plan from Graduate Student Services & Progress to programs and colleges on July 1.

Upcoming sessions:

-Thursday, May 23, 10-11:30 a.m. - St. Paul (McNeal Hall, Room 146)
-Thursday, May 30, 2:30-4 p.m. - East Bank (Nicholson Hall, Room 125)

No RSVP necessary.

Effective immediately, graduate students will experience a new interface and different messaging when requesting their graduation packet online. Eligibility milestones (e.g. active status, approved degree plan, approved final committee) for a student will now be checked at the time they log in to request a packet.

If a student has not completed one or more of the milestones listed, a message displays explaining what they are missing and steps they must take to correct it. We would like you to be aware of this new interface and messaging as it may generate questions from students.

If you have questions regarding this notice, please contact GSSP at gssp@umn.edu.