At NC State, the student directory is initially open to the general public. The directory includes each student’s name, class, email address, home address and major. This is a common directory protocol for all public North Carolina universities; however, NC State gives students the option to restrict some, or all, of their contact information from the general public.
“Students always have the option to restrict the information made public,” said Stan Martin, director of outreach, consulting and communications for the Office of Information Technology (OIT).
Martin said there are a variety of privacy blocks available that students can adjust to their preference through MyPack Portal and edit their FERPA/Privacy Settings. The system has a lot of flexibility in the fact that students can restrict part of their information and leave another part open to the public, such as restricting their home address and leaving their name and email address public. However, the system will also allow full privacy, restricting all of the student’s personal contact information from the public.
In contrast, NC State employees cannot block their contact information from the general public because they are state employees.
NC State’s “Student Records Statement” and the “campus regulation on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act” (FERPA) from the office of general counsel states:
“The university may disclose ‘directory information’ without student consent. Directory information consists of a student’s name, preferred email address, campus and home mailing address(es) on file with the Registrar, enrollment status (e.g., full-time or part-time), grade level (freshman, sophomore, etc), preferred telephone number, major field of study, dates of attendance, and honors, degrees and awards received by the student.”
Martin said OIT was originally developed as an online directory several years ago, in accordance with the regulations established by the university regarding student directory information.
“While it is an extremely handy tool and serves the university community well, we take students’ privacy very seriously,” Martin said.
Martin said the tool to edit what directory information is made public was developed working with the Registration and Records office as well as the Office of General Counsel.
Many students, especially underclassmen, are not aware their contact information is open in the public and that they have the option to restrict it. Martin said OIT has a presentation about privacy and the student directory at every freshman orientation.
Jesse Tehrani, a sophomore studying human biology, had no idea his contact information was public and he had the option to restrict it.
“I don’t think it’s a safe practice to allow that much personal information to fall into the hands of whoever chooses to seek it out,” Tehrani said.
Tehrani also thinks NC State could have done a better job informing new students there is an option to make his information private.
“I didn’t know that was an option, whether or not that was made clear to me by NC State, I’m not sure of either. If they did reach out to students to inform them of the privacy settings they should put a more serious effort to ensure no students information is made public without their personal consent.”
Callum Sloan, a sophomore in the Poole College of Management, agreed with Tehrani that OIT should make more of an effort to communicate to students that they can restrict their contact information from the public.
“It kind of makes me think why that would be public record in the first place,” Sloan said on his contact information.
On the other hand, Mallory Meissner, a sophomore studying industrial engineering, did not mind that her contact information was available to the public but wished she’d known she could alter the information available in the first place.
“I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t know you can adjust the information you release,’ Meissner said.
