An investigation by the Columbus Dispatch reveals that many universities with major athletic programs are keeping records of student-athletes’ violations from the public by invoking the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  Former U.S. Sen. James L. Buckley designed the law to keep academic records, such as students’ grades, private. In practice, the law’s broad definitions have let schools and their attorneys define “academic records” very differently.  Some schools define an education record as solely disclosing a student’s grades and coursework while other schools define it as anything containing a student’s name. As a result, some schools with both major athletic programs and major scandals have been able to avoid disclosing information that could show disparate treatment of athletes, perks from athletic boosters and other potential malfeasance. 
    
The Columbus Dispatch launched a six-month investigation to determine how the 119 colleges in the Football Bowl Subdivision interpreted FERPA by submitting public records requests. Of the 69 schools that provided information, 80 percent released unedited ticket sales lists, half did not sensor flight information of football players, 20 percent gave full documentation of football players’ summer jobs and only 10 percent provided unedited NCAA violations. Several schools effectively barred access to information by requiring hefty fees for reports.  Several asked for a few hundred dollars in fees to provide the records while the University of Maryland asked for $35,330.
 
Critics say universities are using the broad definition of the law to hide violations and discrepancies in treatment between men and women, whites and blacks and star athletes and walk-on players. According to an NCAA study, more schools are using general-fund money and state tax dollars for athletics while the costs of higher-education continue to rise and the $5 billion market of college sports is being funded by fans donors, alumni, television networks and taxpayers.
 
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