CLAYSON, MANN, YAEGER & HANSEN

A .. ROFESSIONAL LAW C.O""'itATION GARY IC. ROSINJWt:IG

ktMT A. HAN81.H fltoLANO C. 8AIN5tt DAVID R. 8AUNDER8 &ALL.IR 8ARN&"M BAMY M. WALKI.R

CLAYSON LAW BUILDING 801 SOUTH MAIN STREET CORONA. CALIFORNIA 921!182 i"OST OFFICE I!IOX 1447 CORONA. CALIFORNIA 92878-1447 FAK C9!51l 7374384

WAL.TERS, CLAYSON

1887111172
E. SPUftOI:ON "OTHROCK

18111-1878 ROY H. MANN. At:T. D!IUtiLL , YA&G&R.

NAMII:.CHUN

CODE 05f 7371GIO 88872.41

March 4, 2010

Mr. louie Bishop 38149 Silver Fox Ct. Murrieta, CA 92565

Re: Request to La Sierra University for Records

Dear Mr. Bishop:

I am the legal counsel for La Sierra University (Lsu). I am writing to you in response to your email of March 1, 201 0 to Ms. Yamlleth Bazan, the Vice-President for Student life. In that email you stated that if the University does not comply with your request for 19C0rds, you intend to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education for violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Ad (FERPA).
1

I am writing to you solely regarding this threat of a legal complaint to a federal agency. Attomeys do not participate in the disciplinary and academic processes of the University, except in their confidential and privileged advice to clients involved in those and by sAnding letters such as this to explain the position of a client regarding the law. I am therefore not addressing the merits of your appeal. FE:RPA defmes "education records" as "those records., files, documents and other materials which contain material directly related to a student and are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a person acting for such agency or institution." (20 United States Code sec. 1232g(a)(4)(A)(i) and (il). Using this definition, LSU has provided you in a timely fashion all education records possessed by the University or persons acting for it including written evidence on which it may have relied in taking action with regard to you. The exception is correspondence and notes subject to attorney-client privilege. I am informed and believe that no education record meeting the FERPA definition has been withheld from you.

...

. .

...

Mr. Louie Bishop March 4, 2010 Page2

The education records that you have been provided constiMe your entire student file. The notices to you about any admissions or disciplinary actions taken with regard to you speak for themst;tlves. Your apologies with regard to the conduct leading to such actions are not relevant to the consideration of what may or may not constitute an education record. The rosters of the membership and descriptions of the Judicial, Student Life and Admission Committees and the citations from tht;t Student Handbook that you have requested are not education records under the FERPA definition. The University has complied with FERPA in its response to you. Your threatened complaint to the U.S. Department of Education would lack merit and you may expect LSU to respond to such a complaint with vigor. If it is your contention that the education record is incorrect, FERPA and University policy allows you to put a written correction or explanation in the file to accompany the record. If you believe that the education records provided to you do not support the actions that are the sUbject of your complaint, the appt;tal process itseff is the proper place to assert that argument. Sincerely, CLAYSON, MANN, YAEGER & HANSEN A Professional Law Corporation

By

Kent A Hansen

KAH:ta
ILSU\StudentUf.23 1L TRIBi&hop-03041 0