At Kenyon College, we are committed to helping students take responsibility for their education and learning, and we want them to enhance their abilities for self-reflection, self-reliance, and self-direction.
We expect students to make their own decisions and manage their lives, owning their own successes and failures. In general, we support this philosophy by communicating directly with students about their academic, co-curricular, and social standing. At the same time, we recognize that parents and guardians have a legitimate and abiding interest in their student's progress, especially in understanding when they may be failing to meet the College’s academic and social expectations.
Federal law protects the confidentiality of student records and specifies those limited situations in which information from educational records may be given out without a student's prior and explicit consent. More information about those situations can be found online in the Course Catalog. The law permits Kenyon, at its discretion, to disclose information without a student's consent to parents or guardians of a tax-dependent student.
Kenyon's policy is that disclosure of information to parents of a tax-dependent student is reserved for situations concerning a student's official status at the College.
Consequently, parents may be notified in the following situations:
Additionally, the College may notify parents of a tax-dependent student in situations where, for health or safety reasons or in extraordinary circumstances, the College believes that notification is appropriate. Note that the College does not typically disclose information to parents where a student has made a report regarding potentially discriminatory or harassing behavior under the College’s Title IX policy or other non-discrimination policies.