“We do have the duty to protect student information,” MSU associate registrar Traci Gulick said. “FERPA says that we may disclose the information. It doesn’t say that we must.”

Before last year, MSU would release student directory information when it received a Freedom of Information Act request, but in July 2008, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled information could be withheld under the Freedom of Information Act privacy exemption. Since the decision, MSU has decided to not disclose directory information requested under FOIA.

“If (a request for student directory information) was made under a FOIA request, we couldn’t release that information,” MSU FOIA Officer Radhika Pasricha said.

University of Michigan spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said his university’s policy is not to release students’ home addresses or phone numbers. In the 2008 case Michigan Federation of Teachers v. University of Michigan, the federation sued for access to a list of U-M employees who didn’t want their directory information released. The court ruled directory information could be kept private.

“My understanding was that it was the University of Michigan that sought to protect some of that information, and the court agreed that we could,” he said.

Other public universities in the state have similar policies regarding student privacy.

Wayne State University assistant general counsel Linda Galante and Eastern Michigan University general counsel Kenneth McKanders said their universities review FOIA requests individually, but it’s unlikely they would release students’ addresses or phone numbers. Central Michigan University legal assistant Kathy Kelly said the university probably would release one student’s information, unless that student had requested the information remain private, but would not release lists of student information because of concerns about spam mailings.

Gulick said MSU also is more restrictive regarding student grades than FERPA mandates. She said MSU does not release grades to students’ parents, although FERPA also allows universities to give parents of dependant students their children’s academic records.

“If the parent wants (information), they have to get that through the student,” she said.

Zoology senior Jessica Caton said she isn’t concerned about keeping information private.

“I always tell my parents my grades anyway, but for some people their connection with their parents might not be as strong,” she said. “We’re in college, so we should get to decide instead of having the university tell.”

Although MSU continues to side with the state FOIA rules, its privacy policy has been questioned. Earlier this year, The Columbus Dispatch attempted to see if universities with Division I athletic teams used FERPA to avoid disclosing information about their athletic programs. According to the report, MSU was the only university that did not respond. The Columbus Dispatch sent requests to MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon’s office, MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis’ office and MSU’s University Relations.

Hollis said his office never received a request.

University spokesman Kent Cassella said university relations never received a request.

“We’ve got no record or indication that they ever talked to us,” he said.