The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2 - 50

Angela I. Canto * Martin Swanbrow Becker * Bradley E. Cox * Seth Hayden * Debra Osborn

their residents.

The Issue of Student Privacy
When a resident expresses intent to harm him
or herself or others, campus authorities must
be contacted. However, it is less clear when to
refer a resident for additional support when
other mental health concerns become apparent, such as self-injury (cutting behaviors),
erratic behavior, tumultuous romantic breakups, and substance use and abuse. When a resident shares a mental health concern with an
RA, does that student have the right to expect
confidentiality? Should a parent or guardian be
called if a resident is intoxicated or engaging in
cutting behaviors?
When in doubt, referral to campus mental
health services is recommended. With regard
to confidentiality of that referral and the
outcome, the Health Insurance Portability &
Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA) provide some guidance on these
issues. The Privacy Rule of HIPAA addresses
issues of disclosure of an individual's health
information. The most pertinent rule is that
unless a student signs a release of information
and specifies information that can be shared
and to whom, a mental health professional will
not be able to share information about that
student, even one who was referred by the RA.
The FERPA legislation protects students'
educational records, while allowing parents
and guardians access to a minor student's
educational records. This does not, however,
include observations or conversations about
students, although institutions may have policies that address these forms of communication. A 1998 amendment to FERPA also allows

(but does not require) disclosure to a parent
or guardian if a student younger than 21 or
a student older than 21 who is a "dependent
student" violates campus rules or laws specific
to alcohol or controlled substance possession
or consumption. Disclosure in this example is
left to the discretion of university personnel.
Release of information about specific student
mental health concerns is not currently
covered by FERPA. Given that knowledge of a
student's mental health status may be useful
in crisis prevention and recovery, some professionals (Graham, Hall, & Gilmer, 2008) are
calling for universities to take another look at
FERPA and eliminate university policies and
restrictions that are not required by law. According to Graham and colleagues, universities may tend to lean toward over-restrictive
policies in favor of student rights to privacy,
a decision that may ultimately lead to tragedy.
For example, in the case of the Virginia Tech
campus shooting, various campus entities had
concerns about the perpetrator, information
that was in most cases isolated to those entities and not communicated broadly until the
aftermath of the event (Virginia Tech Review

When a resident shares a mental
health concern with an RA, does
that student have the right to
expect confidentiality? Should a
parent or guardian be called if a
resident is intoxicated or engaging
in cutting behaviors?

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2