Vice President and Provost Frances Bronet sent out an email to the University of Oregon community at around 4 p.m. Saturday reaffirming the University’s commitment to confidentiality of student records. The message came in response to the outcry that was raised when the Office of the General Counsel obtained the counseling records of an alleged sexual assault survivor after she brought a lawsuit against the school.
“I am affirming that University of Oregon students will have the same level of strong confidentiality that they have in private, off-campus therapy,” Bronet wrote in the email.
She outlined three courses of action that the university will be taking. The first is the return of all the records that the OGC obtained from the counseling center. Secondly, Bronet said she was instructing all UO employees to respect the confidentiality of therapists at UO clinics and counseling centers.
The last action was a promise that counseling records from UO clinics and counseling centers would never be released to anyone not involved in a student’s treatment, with a few exceptions. Those included if the student signed a release form, if a therapist needed to prevent harm to the student or others, or if a court orders release of the records.
In addition, Bronet said she would be forming a committee of licensed therapists, faculty, general counsel and staff to “propose new or clarified policies on how the confidentiality of medical and psychological records for any university departments that handle protected health information will be maintained and protected, and when records may be released.”
The committee will put forth a draft of those proposals in April.
Bronet also provided numbers for on-campus counseling and mental health resources for students, and said she would be sending the email again at the start of spring term.