Resources
for designing an advising office
Q:
I am looking
for guidelines on space considerations in regards to privacy
in academic advising offices. In other words, has NACADA or any
other group come up with recommendations as to how much space,
distance, noise/sight barriers are necessary to insure that student
confidentiality is
maintained?
First let me congratulate your college on the redesign
of your advising facilities. In this time of increased legal and
ethical scrutiny, it is important that your advising facilities
are not a liability as you seek to provide students with the best
advising possible. To assist colleges in tasks similar to yours,
the Clearinghouse has compiled several resource links
(see above) that can help with office layout, size and privacy
issues.
I would suggest that you and your administration begin by taking
special note of Part 7 of the CAS
Standards (lines 305 - 324) that includes: "Privacy and
freedom from visual and auditory distractions should be considerations
in designing appropriate facilities."
Privacy
issues as they deal with facilities are a FERPA issue. Simply
stated, office structures that allow students to overhear what
should be private conversations between an advisor and another
student are not prudent. One of the most readily accessible articles
on the subject is in your NACADA Journal library: Showell,
Jeffrey A., "Some legal implications in academic advising,"
volume 18, issue 2: 40-46.
On
p. 41 Showell states "The biggest danger to FERPA for an
academic advisor is the inadvertent release of information about
an advisee. Before communicating with anyone about the student
(except, of course, other university employees with a legitimate
educational interest in the information) advisors should obtain
written permission from the advisee--even if a waiver is supposedly
on file."
"Violation
of FERPA cannot lead to a federal suit against the advisor by
the victim (Smith v. Duquesne, 1986). The only remedy provided
by FERPA is the cutoff of federal funds to the institution."
...However, "a state civil remedy may be applicable...for
example, unauthorized release of a transcript (especially one
with bad grades) could be actionable and damages payable. This
case is especially powerful if the offense is committed at a public
institution and can thus be portrayed as an excessive governmental
intrusion into private affairs; the grades are indeed of no legitimate
public concern."
It
just takes one discussion of poor grades overheard in a crowded
area or over a cubicle wall to make the institution liable. That
argument was effectively used with administration in the redesign
of the Advising Center in one of my former positions. With that
in mind we moved advisors into offices with closable doors and
solid walls.
Although not
directly discussing office space challenges, Bill Van Dusen does
a good job explaining FERPA privacy issues in his overview "FERPA:
Basic Guidelines for Faculty and Staff: A Simple Step-by-Step
Approach For Compliance." If this is not enough to convince
your administration, check the FERPA resources on the Council
on Law in Higher Education web site. This is the most definitive
web site for privacy issues.
Marsha
Miller
NACADA
Assistant Director, Resources & Services
