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Section
IV: Programs
SACS Comprehensive Standard for All Educational Programs
IV-10. The institution protects the security, confidentiality,
and integrity of its student academic records and maintains special security
measures to protect and back up the data.
JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE
Yes, East Tennessee State University is able to provide a
portfolio of evidence supporting compliance.
STATEMENT OF RATIONALE FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE
Academic records at East Tennessee State University
are maintained to serve three distinct categories of students:
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undergraduate and graduate students (ETSU Office of the Registrar);
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medical students (ETSU Quillen College of Medicine, Office of
the Registrar), and
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professional developmentand continuing education students (ETSU
School of Continuing Studies; ETSU College of Business; ETSU College
of Public and Allied Health; ETSU Quillen College of Medicine).
Facilities, policies, and procedures used to maintain
student records, ensure their security, and protect confidentiality are
described below for each of these categories of students.
Undergraduate and Graduate Student
Records
The ETSU Office of the Registrar is responsible
for maintaining student records for both undergraduate and graduate students.
The procedures used in the care of records are consistent with standards
established by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
Officers and Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) policy (TBR Manual, Disposal
of Records). Student records are either in hard copy or electronic
format. All student transcripts prior to fall 1991 are maintained in
hard copy form; transcripts since fall 1991 are maintained in a computerized
database. The transcript inventory dates back to 1911, the founding date
of the institution.
The integrity of academic records is ensured by a
sophisticated security system that restricts maintenance and update of
sensitive data to authorized personnel. This system also provides a detailed
audit log of grade change entries. Computerized student records are protected
by a comprehensive, password-driven security system and access to these
records is granted on a need-to-know basis. Employees in various administrative
and support units must request accounts and be approved by academic department
chairpersons or supervisors in order to access the mainframe and the Student
Information System (SIS), where student academic records are stored.
Systematic backup procedures protect the records from system anomalies.
To assist in maintaining security and integrity of student data, daily
online data entry is captured by a System and Computing Technology (SCT)
Checkpointer® program and stored on disk in case of system failure between
nightly backups. Data are backed up on a regular basis including a tape
backup before nightly batch processing, followed by incremental system
backups after nightly batch processing, and full system backups each weekend.
The data center is a secured location and backups are stored off site.
Hard copy student permanent record cards are stored in two fireproof vaults;
access to the vaults is restricted to authorize personnel. Microfilm
backup copies of hard copy records are being completed for the approximately
160,000 student academic records used prior to fall 1991. A complete
setup of backup microfilm records will be available by December 2001.
The institution also has established policy
governing the rights to privacy and confidentiality of student academic
records based on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
regulations (ETSU Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Policy).
This policy describes students' rights to review their academic records,
limitations of their rights, release of information to third parties,
and a process for challenging information in their records (ETSU Office
of the Registrar). Advisors and faculty are reminded frequently and
electronically of the FERPA policy by a message posted on the student
information system and by a confidential warning stamped on all copies
of records from the office of the registrar. This standard on the confidentiality
of student records is consistent with TBR policy (TBR Manual, Policy
on Confidentiality of Student Records, Guideline on Confidentiality of
Student Records) and is described in the ETSU Faculty Handbook,
the ETSU Schedule of Classes, and the student handbook, ETSU
Spectrum.
Medical Student Records
The registrar for the ETSU Quillen College of Medicine
(COM) maintains medical student records dating from the establishment
of the college in 1978. Records are housed in fireproof filing cabinets,
secured with a locked bar mechanism, located in a locked office and in
a locked building. Student records prior to the fall semester of 1994
are backed up and stored in a secured off-site location. Since 1994,
records for medical students are included on the SIS system, and subject
to the same backup and storage procedures used for graduate and undergraduate
students (see above).
The COM also follows the ETSU policy affording students
and others all rights and assurances as provided by FERPA (ETSU Quillen
College of Medicine Catalog, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).
Office staff are familiarized with the FERPA and trained as appropriate.
Each staff member is required to read and sign a Statement of Student
Records Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest form.
Professional Development and
Continuing Education Student Records
At ETSU, the school of continuing studies and the colleges
of business, public and allied health, and medicine maintain continuing
education and other non-credit educational student records. For the ETSU
College of Business, the Office of External Programs has responsibility
for records for continuing professional education(CPE) credits. These
records are kept in a locked filing cabinet in a locked storage room,
and backup copies on disk are kept in a separate, secure location.
In the ETSU College of Public and Allied Health, continuing
education units (CEUs) are awarded by the departments of dental hygiene
and communicative disorders. In the ETSU Department of Dental Hygiene,
CEUs are awarded for faculty in-service and annual training. Records
are kept by the chairperson's executive aide and are reasonably secure,
but there are no backup copies. This department has been informed of
the need to create backup copies of CEU records and identify a separate,
secure location for them. The ETSU Department of Communicative Disorders
is certified to award CEUs for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
(ASHA). Local records are kept by the chairperson's executive aide,
and copies are located in the office of an assistant dean of medical education.
Copies of all awards are sent immediately to the ASHA national office,
which is responsible for maintaining electronic records and providing
verification.
A very recent re-organization has resulted in the
transfer of the ETSU Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME)
to the administration of the Quillen College of Medicine (COM). In the
past, this office functioned in coordination with the ETSU Office of
Professional Development, which has remained within the ETSU School
of Continuing Studies. Both offices are located in close proximity on
the Mountain Home Veterans Affairs campus, and continue to work together
to maintain student records for continuing education and other non-credit
educational experiences. Procedures of these offices adhere to the TBR
guideline for maintaining and disposing of student records (TBR Manual,
Disposal of Records), which requires that academic records relating
to continuing education programs be maintained permanently, while records
concerning applications and payment of fees may be disposed of after a
specified time period. Since 1994, student records pertaining to CEUs
for continuing studies or medical education have been stored electronically
using an Aceware® database. Access to this system is password protected,
and records are backed up nightly and stored in a fireproof mini-vault.
Hard-copy versions of these records are secured in a locked storage room.
In 1999, it was recognized that older academic records (1988-1994) for
these CEU programs were not stored in a fireproof location and copies
were not available. As an improvement initiative, staff members in these
two offices are currently proceeding with entering the older records into
the Aceware® database. As progress on electronic capture
is made, existing procedures for backup and secure storage then apply
to these older records. It is anticipated that this project will be completed
in 2002.
DOCUMENTATION
SOURCE
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LOCATION
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ETSU Office of the Registrar, Undergraduate
and Graduate Student Records
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Office of the Registrar, 101-102 Dossett Hall
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ETSU James H. Quillen College of Medicine,
Office of the Registrar, Medical Student Records
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Tennessee Board of Regents Policies and
Guidelines Manual, Policy G-070, Disposal of Records
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ETSU Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act Policy
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Tennessee Board of Regents Policies and
Guidelines Manual, Policy 3:02:03:00, Confidentiality of Student
Records
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ETSU Faculty Handbook, Section 5.10, Student
Records and Privacy
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ETSU Schedule of Classes
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SACS Documentation Files.
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ETSU Spectrum (Student Handbook), Family
Educational Rights and Privacy
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ETSU James H. Quillen College of Medicine
Catalog, 2001-2002, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
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Statement of Student Records Confidentiality and Conflict
of Interest
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SACS Documentation Files.
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ETSU College of Business, External Programs
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Executive Aide for External Programs, 210 Sam
Wilson Hall
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ETSU Department of Dental Hygiene
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Office of the Chair, 073 Lamb Hall
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ETSU Department of Communicative Disorders
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Office of the Chair, 201A Lamb Hall
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ETSU James H. Quillen College of Medicine,
Office of Continuing Medical Education, Physician Records
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Veterans Affairs Building 2, Room 124
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ETSU School of Continuing Studies, Office
of Professional Development, Professional Records
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Veterans Affairs Building 2, Room 120
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