College officials are allowed to release student's home phone numbers to anyone who asks for them, according to modifications to the Student Records Policy made during the summer.
Under the old policy, in place since 1987, the college was authorized to provide information about students from a list of more than a dozen categories, but prohibited from releaseing home telephone numbers from this list.
According to Senior Associate Dean Dan Nelson, the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act created a list of "directory information" -- a stated set of guidelines for what a university could and could not not disclose.
Until the policy change in July, Dartmouth made all information suggested by the FERPA available, with the exception of students' home phone numbers. By making students' home telephone numbers available, the College's list of disclosable items is now identical to the FERPA list, Nelson said.
In the July 18 memo that made the change official, Dean of the College Lee Pelton wrote "the current changes were proposed by a committee of administrators, from a variety of College offices dealing with student records."
"The previous Dartmouth policy regarding home telephone numbers, which was more restrictive than required by law, was burdensome to some college offices," Pelton wrote.
Aletter sent to incoming freshmen and transfer students this summer, provided each student with the opportunity to request to have any information he or she wished withheld from public disclosure.
"Last time I checked, no one from the incoming class made such a request," Nelson said. All other undergraduates were asked to read the new policy in the Student Handbook upon their arrival in Hanover.
Nelson said he received very few comments about the old policy in the past, but of the ones he did receive, most found it inconvenient not to have home telephone numbers available for public disclosure.
The new policy allows the College to disclose the following information about a student to any person or organization -- name, age, dates of enrollment and residence, major, degrees awarded, awards and honors, addresses and telephone numbers on campus, home addresses and telephone numbers, date and place of birth, relationship to an alumnus or alumna of the College, most recent school previously attended, extracurricular activities and weight and height of members of athletic teams.
Students had varying opinions of the policy. "As long as we have the choice whether or not we want our information disclosed, it doesn't bother me," said Becky Symmes '98.
But Greg Cappell '98 disagreed. "You shouldn't be the one that has to notify the College not to divulge information you want to be kept private. It should be the other way around."
But policies at other Ivy League universities are stricter regarding the disclosure of student information.
A source in the Yale University undergraduate office, who wished to remain anonymous, said students' home telephone numbers are "off limits" to the public.
Bob Nelson of the Columbia University Dean's Office said Columbia also discloses campus phone numbers, but no home phone numbers, except under cases of "life and death."
Sandy Silverman, assistant dean of students at Princeton University, said that home phone numbers are not made available.
Jeanne Medeiros, an employee at the Brown University student information line, said that only campus phone numbers and mailbox numbers can be found on Brown's list of directory information.
Cornell's policy is similar, according to David Yeh, assistant vice-president of academic services. "We removed home addresses and telephone numbers from the directory altogether," he said.
At Harvard University, an employee in the Dean of Students office, Michelle Hewitt, said home and ca,pus addresses, home telephone numbers, and majors are expressly off limits.
Employees in the dean's office at the University of Pennsylvania were unavailable for comment.
