Waiving Ferpa As a part of your union membership
Why WaIVE fERPA?
Labor unions need information about their members in order to effectively and actively represent the needs and interests of those members. Typically, employers are required to provide this information to unions by federal labor law. However, UMass Amherst maintains that they cannot comply with these laws because we are graduate students; therefore, our information cannot be disclosed without prior written consent due to the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA).
This is a distortion of the facts, to say the least. GEO is not a corporation, it is a labor union. FERPA largely applies to your educational record—things like your grades and your class schedule. None of this will ever be disclosed to any GEO leader or representative unless you yourself personally provide that information. GEO is interested in information about your work and working conditions, including contact information, data about appointments and reappointments, the number of assistantships in different departments. We need this information to uphold your rights in the workplace, and to keep you informed about what’s going on in GEO, at UMass, and in the surrounding community.
This is why we ask all GEO members to take 3 minutes to log onto SPIRE and waive FERPA. See below for a detailed illustrated guide to waiving FERPA.
How to waive FERPA on Spire:
1) Go to Spire and log in with your student role
(this may be your “alternate role”)
The mobile interface does not show FERPA. Please select “Go back to old interface”.
2) Old SPire: Select “ReView Graduate Appointments”
2) New SPire: Select “Graduate Assistantships”
Under this heading, you will find the “GEO FERPA Release” option.
3) Select “Geo FERPA Release”
4) Review The info and Agree!
Choose the “agree” option to give GEO your employment info.