At Kenyon College, we are committed to helping students take responsibility for their education and learning, and we want them to enhance their abilities for self-reflection, self-reliance and self-direction.

We expect students to make their own decisions and manage their lives, owning their own successes and failures. In general, we support this philosophy by communicating directly with students about their academic, co-curricular and social standing. At the same time, we recognize that parents and guardians have a legitimate and abiding interest in their student's progress, especially in understanding when they may be failing to meet the College’s academic and social expectations.

Federal law protects the confidentiality of student records and specifies those limited situations in which information from educational records may be given out without a student's prior and explicit consent. More information about those situations can be found online in the Course Catalog. The law permits Kenyon, at its discretion, to disclose information without a student's consent to parents or guardians of a tax-dependent student.

Kenyon's policy is that disclosure of information to parents of a tax-dependent student is reserved for situations concerning a student's official status at the College.

Consequently, parents may be notified in the following situations:

  1. When a student withdraws from the College for any reason;
  2. When a student has been advised or required to withdraw, or when the student's academic standing is at serious issue; and
  3. When a student has been placed either on disciplinary probation or found responsible for multiple offenses of the student code of conduct.

Additionally, the College may notify parents of a tax-dependent student in situations where, for health or safety reasons or in extraordinary circumstances, the College believes that notification is appropriate. Note that the College does not typically disclose information to parents where a student has made a report regarding potentially discriminatory or harassing behavior under the College’s Civil Rights Policy.