The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled individuals do not have the right to sue a university for a violation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, but Maurice Clarett and his lawyer, Percey Squire, are attempting to find a way around the ruling.
Squire has filed a motion and a complaint that state Ohio State violated FERPA. He is trying to put Clarett in a position to bring a contempt of court charge on OSU.
FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s educational records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond high school.
“FERPA was set up and designed to protect students’ grades. It was set up for a student to be able to review his transcript and determine who gets to see the transcript,” said Howard Clery III, executive director of Security on Campus, Inc., a non-profit crime prevention organization. “Statements made to campus administrators are not meant to be protected by FERPA; it was not designed to protect students from school administrators or police.”
In his motion, Squire said the university violated Clarett’s privacy when it shared information from an NCAA investigation with University Police and the Columbus city attorney, Richard Pfeiffer.
“If someone wrongs you, if in order for you to vindicate your status it is necessary to seek court protection, if one of the results of that is that you are going to be viewed as a pretentious individual, that should be something that is taken into account,” Squire said. “Mr. Clarett has been subjected to innuendo, allegations, rumors for six months.
“It is now time for his rights to be taken into account and his status be given some consideration,” he said.
The Clarett legal battles began after he was charged with falsification. The police said he inflated the value of items stolen in April from a car he had borrowed from a local dealership.
Clarett reported to University Police that $10,000 worth of CDs, clothing and cash were stolen from the car.
When Clarett was questioned by university and NCAA officials on July 7, he said he exaggerated the value of the items. Ohio State shared Clarett’s admission with campus police.
The police then notified Pfeiffer, who filed the misdemeanor charge against Clarett last month.
“There is a specific provision in FERPA that says any violation of the law can be turned over to campus police and campus police must do there own investigation, then can turn over what they find to local law enforcement officials,” said S. Daniel Carter, vice president of Security on Campus, Inc.
Any time there is a criminal case on university-owned property in Franklin County, the University Police conduct an investigation and file a complaint to the clerks office, and it routes it to the correct court, said University Police Chief Ron Michalec.
FERPA is an educational records law, not a blanket confidentiality law, Carter said.
“It was not meant to create a confidential relationship between students and administrators,” he said. “FERPA protects records so if a statement is transcribed it could potentially be protected.”
Carter said if a statement is made during an investigation, it can be relayed onto law enforcement authorities by word of mouth and spark an investigation.
University attorney Virginia Trethewey released a statement on behalf of the university Saturday.
“The Ohio State University has vigorously protected the educational records of this student athlete and his Sept. 18 discovery lawsuit has generated no information that would lead Mr. Clarett to believe Ohio State violated his privacy,” Trethewey said in the statement.
