Subject:      Ethical Dilemma within an Organization

The Disability Resource Center (DRC) is a specialized office at Porterville College (PC) that provides support services and free learning disability testing to enrolled students.  State laws mandate a student’s right to privacy, and insure confidentiality.

In this report, I will discuss ethical dilemmas that occur in the DRC, extenuating circumstances claimed by individuals attempting to obtain information, how the DRC has responded, and what is being done to avoid future dilemmas.

Background

The DRC offers two Counselors and two Special Services Technicians.  Students must make an appointment to receive services.  The first appointment consists of an individual assessment and paperwork.  The student is informed of their Rights, which guarantees absolute confidentiality.  A student’s disability, appointment time, assessment scores, services received, or any other information about that student cannot be released to anyone on or off campus, without the written consent of that student.  Situations arise almost daily that require enforcement of confidentiality laws, often creating a dilemma for the employees of the DRC.  Title V of the California Code of Regulations, section 56008, enforce student’s rights.  The law states, specifically pertaining to confidentiality, that “All records maintained by DRC personnel pertaining to students with disabilities shall be protected from disclosure and shall be subject to all other requirements for handling of student records as provided in Subchapter 2 of chapter 5 of this Division.”

Dilemma

Faculty members often call the DRC to ask questions about one of their students.  Typically the instructor requests information about the student’s disability, explaining that if they knew what the disability was, they may be able to provide better assistance.  Other questions relate to whether the DRC will disclose if one of their students is receiving services from the DRC, or requesting personal information such as a telephone number.

Students also create ethical dilemmas in the DRC, even though they may be requesting their own information.  Many DRC students call the office and request information such as their grades, or assessment scores.  The DRC policy states that no personal information shall be provided by telephone.  Providing such information is too risky since verification of the student is difficult to guarantee.  Many places of business allow individuals to identify themselves with their Social Security Number, or some other piece of information; however PC will not allow information to be transmitted in such a way.  Increasing the dilemma for the employee is the fact that many students who call in for information, do so because it is physically challenging to travel to campus and much easier for the student to call.

Other situations that involve confidentiality include friends or family members dropping by the office to see if a student is done with their appointment, or what time the appointment is so that they can meet the person there.  Generally when someone requests information such as appointment time they would rather not be told they cannot have that information; they attempt to be verbally aggressive or use desperation explaining that they are there to give the student a ride and other various excuses.  In most cases they are telling the truth and the student would not mind the information provided, which creates the ethical dilemma to provide the information or not.  However there have been cases of ex-spouses for example, probing for information to find the student when they are not legally permitted to be within 100 feet of that person.

Parents often create confidentiality issues when they are either trying to help, or insure their student’s success.  One particular occasion resulted in a parent being removed from the campus by security because she refused to leave the office until she was provided a progress report for her son, as well as a record of missed appointments missed with the DRC.  It is illegal to provide the type of information she wanted because her son is no longer a minor. 

Dilemmas occur when the employees in the office know a student so well, that they are sure the student would not mind.  For example, when students have brought their parent, friend, or spouse to the office on prior occasions and clearly divulged information.  Faculty create the greatest dilemma for the office staff because they feel that they should be privy to student information.  It is the student however, who must self-disclose to an instructor their needs or disadvantages due to a disability.  The office support is there to help the student, but understand the restraints of the law. 

What is Being Done

To preserve confidentiality the DRC sponsors campus wide training for faculty, staff, and administration.  The training consists of a speaker, power-point demonstration, and a question/answer session.  The training occurs at Flex Day, which is an in-service day held twice per year.

On a student level, confidentiality is explained in detail on the first visit.  Files are created for each student including a Release of Information form, should the student wish to identify someone who may require information about them.

Porterville College elected to no longer use Social Security Numbers (SSN) to identify students, as another method to insure confidentiality.  Computer generated identification numbers (ID) are now in use to replace the SSN.  According to the Admissions and Records department, the use of student ID numbers is a much safer method of identifying student records and is assisting in preventing identity theft.

Lastly, the DRC created and distributes Student Handbooks.  The Student Handbook outlines the student’s rights as well as responsibilities as a DRC student.  Their right to confidentiality is covered in depth, as well as a copy of each form the student must sign prior to receiving services.