OKLAHOMA -- After nearly 10 years of disclosing the names of
scholarship recipients at Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU),
university officials are now claiming that the information is protected under
the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The scholarships, which are
funded through an Alva city sales tax, total nearly $214,000, and are an
incentive to bring students to the area.
The issue of disclosing the names came up in a city council meeting earlier
this month, when Alva councilman Roger Hardaway protested the disclosure
changes.
"In a democracy, you can't be making decisions in secret or in private,
it's like the old smoke-filled room analogy for nominating candidates for
offices," Hardaway said. "The more open you do things, the more scrutiny (you
have), makes it better."
Hardaway requested to view the scholarship list from the university and his
request was granted. However, when he requested a hard copy, he was told that
that could be a violation of FERPA.
Some of the incoming freshmen and transfer students who received
scholarships signed a FERPA waiver form to allow the school to notify their
local newspapers, said Steve Valencia, associate vice president for university
relations at NWOSU.
The university made an agreement with the city in 1999 to disclose the
names of recipients, how much each recipient was given and why they were chosen
to receive the scholarship.
Helen Barrett, assignment editor for the Alva Review-Courier, said
she believes the secrecy began after she had written in January about the
discrepancies between the students receiving different amounts, primarily
valedictorians and athletes.
However, Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law
Center, says that if students have waived FERPA confidentiality, there's no
longer an issue of privacy.
"If the student has consented for their scholarship information to appear
in one newspaper, there's no plausible basis to object to another requester
having the same information," LoMonte said. "This is yet another example of why
Congress and the Department of Education have to fix this broken statute. It's
just far too easy for people who want to conceal embarrassing information to cry
'FERPA.' "
Hardaway said that city attorney Rich Cunningham, husband of NWOSU
president Janet Cunningham, told him that he could be cited for violating a
federal law if he shared the information with someone other than a council
member.
Hardaway, who is also a history professor at NWOSU, signed the FOI
Oklahoma's Open Government Pledge in 2009. He said he plans on bringing the
issue back up before the council at the next meeting July 6.
By Kelsey Ryan, SPLC staff writer
