September 15, (THEWILL) – The Chicago State University (CSU), says the United States’ federal law – Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), prevents it from providing information about President Bola Tinubu’s academic record without consent or an order of a court.
While it insisted that the FERPA protects the privacy of student records and limits what an institution can release, the CSU, however, confirmed that President Tinubu attended the university and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree.
THEWILL reports that Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2023 elections in Nigeria, had approached a United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, seeking details of Tinubu’s academic records at the CSU.
Atiku had subpoenaed the CSU to make Tinubu’s academic records available for his access, believing that such discoveries would shed more light on the controversies surrounding the President’s educational records.
Earlier on Tuesday, during Court proceedings at the Chicago Court, counsel for CSU, Michael Hayes, told Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, that the school was not in a position to authenticate Tinubu’s certificate, as either fake or genuine
“Is the diploma authentic or is it a forgery? My client can’t answer yes to either of those questions”, the lawyer said.
Amid the controversy, the university in a statement issued to CBS Broadcasting Inc. on Thursday, confirmed President Tinubu graduated from the school. It, however, said the school cannot authenticate the diploma certificate President Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) because it was a ceremonial document and not part of a student’s official academic file.
The statement CSU issued to CBS, reads in part; “As an educational institution, we are sometimes asked to provide information related to student records. The federal law known as FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) protects the privacy of student records and limits what an institution can release.
“In August 2023, a request was made to the U.S. federal court for the university to provide information related to educational records concerning Bola Tinubu, the President of Nigeria, and a former CSU student.
“The university has confirmed Tinubu attended CSU and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree. Federal law, however, prevents us from providing any further information without consent or unless allowed to do so via court order.
“CSU is confident in the veracity and integrity of our records regarding Tinubu’s completion of graduation requirements and degree certificate.
“The university is not a party to the Nigerian legal proceedings that spurred this request, and a U.S. federal judge will determine whether the university will provide further requested information.
“Our response to the request for Tinubu’s academic records has been entirely consistent with our practices, policies and federal law. We would respond in exactly the same manner for any request for any student information by a third party.”
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