Hiding Behind Ivory Towers: Penalizing Schools That Improperly Invoke Student Privacy To Suppress Open Records Requests

This article suggests the status quo gives institutions strong incentives to unlawfully deny open records requests through reliance on FERPA. Indeed, it makes economic sense for many of these institutions to overcomply with FERPA and undercomply with open records laws. To alleviate this problem, this Note proposes the imposition of penalties on schools that unreasonably withhold documents in response to open records requests.