**Correction appended**
Companies are obtaining students’ directory information to market products and services to them.
As of January 2012, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act allows schools to stipulate what directory information is made public for their students. Under the University of Missouri System’s policy, a host of pieces of directory information, like a student’s address, are considered to be public. The Missouri Sunshine Law also states that people’s directory information is considered public.
The Maneater obtained all sunshine requests submitted to the UM System by outside businesses for the time period of Jan. 1, 2011 through Feb. 21, 2012. Most, but not all, sunshine requests come from outside companies, UM System spokeswoman Jennifer Hollingshead said in an email.
Companies who requested information during this time period include StudyBlue, Freeman Signature Announcements, Hamby-Dell, Logan College of Chiropractic Programs, MyEdu, Patty’s University Bookstore, Kaplan Test Prep, Dorm Room Movers and the Stoney Creek Inn. Most of these companies did not return requests for comment on why they requested this information and how they used it.
Students’ directory information, which is considered public record under the Missouri Sunshine Law, includes a student’s name, address, email, telephone number, major, whether he or she participates in an official activity or sport, what degrees or awards he or she has received, previous schools a student has attended and whether a student is going to school full-time or part-time, according to the UM System’s website. Not all companies request all of the information publicly available.
The UM System typically charges $150 for each of these types of requests, Hollingshead said in an email.
“We generate a special report for each paid request to ensure that those who invoked FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) are protected,” Hollingshead said in an email. “The electronic special report is more cost-efficient than going through the student list and manually redacting the students who requested that their directory information remain private.”
David Freeman of Freeman Signature Announcements requests lists of students who are seniors graduating from a variety of colleges, including MU. Each student is sent a graduation outfit sample, graduation announcement sample, small catalog and a pricing guide. The sample is mailed to students in February, and each student is emailed as well.
Freeman said in his experience marketing to hundreds of schools, some are stricter with what information they give out. Schools used to be more liberal with this information, but after credit card companies started advertising to students, who started going into significant debt, some schools became stricter. Credit cards are still advertised to [members of the Mizzou Alumni Association](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2012/2/28/bank-america-continues-solicit-alumni/).
“We use it to understand where students are coming from, if it’s (a) demographic that has a need for our services,” Dorm Room Movers partner Leor Lapid said of the directory information it requests.
Lapid said Dorm Room Movers also advertises on campus and has campus representatives.
Patty’s University Bookstore uses students’ directory information to send students emails letting them know its services will be available to resell students’ textbooks at the end of the semester, employee Brad Bolz said. MU blocks the company’s emails, Bolz also said.
MU will block outside emails to keep systems functioning properly and to prevent those using MU’s email system from acquiring too many unwanted emails, MU spokesman Christian Basi said in an email.
“We do not discriminate on which emails we block,” Basi said in an email. “We attempt to block all spam, regardless of who is sending it.”
By blocking these emails, MU will make more money from students using its own services to sell back their books instead, Bolz said.
Though students’ directory information is considered public information, according to the Missouri Sunshine Law, students still have the option to opt out of having their information publicly available and can do so through their MyZou accounts.
“I didn’t even know that I could opt out,” MU graduate student Steve Rich said. “No one really seems to tell you that.”
Rich said he stopped using his student email from his alma mater, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, because he was receiving too many spam emails, which is similar to what he says he often sees in his MU email account.
“One of things that bugs me is that they’re often kind of disguised as emails from Mizzou,” he said.
MU sophomore Alex Bannes said in an email though student directory information is public by state law, she feels her privacy is being invaded. In the past year she has received more of these emails with labels such as “Mizzou CollegeBudget” and “Mizzou Discount” as well as mail to her actual school address.
“I was not aware that I could opt out of my information being public through my MyZou account, but now that I am aware, I have taken action and made my information private,” Bannes said in an email.
**Correction appended:** It was originally stated that companies are obtaining this information under the Missouri Sunshine Law. To clarify, though the state sunshine law does stipulate that people’s directory information is considered public information, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act stipulates that as of January 2012, schools can decide what directory information they choose to be made public. The University of Missouri System has a formal policy for its campuses that further explains what types of information it chooses to be made public for students, such as a student’s address. The Maneater regrets the error.