Open Records Decision No. 224
August 28, 1979

	Re:  Whether handwritten student evaluations of faculty member are public under 
Open Records Act.

Honorable W. O. Shultz, II
University of Texas System
Office of General Counsel
201 West 7th Street
Austin, Texas  78701

Dear Mr. Shultz:

	Pursuant to section 7 of article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S., the Texas Open Records Act, 
you request our decision as to whether handwritten student evaluations of a particular 
faculty member are excepted from required public disclosure under section 3(a)(2) of the 
Act.  The University of Texas at El Paso has received a request from a reporter for The 
Prospector, the student newspaper, for “any and all student evaluations relating to the 
performance of” a named faculty member.  The department in which the faculty member 
serves regularly obtains student evaluations of all faculty members.  The evaluations 
consist of a questionnaire and a form answer sheet designed for use in a computer which 
all students are expected to complete, and in addition, the students may make 
individualized written comments if they wish to do so.  The University responded to the 
request by providing a copy of the computer printout of the statistical compilation of the 
responses to the questionnaire.  The University consulted with the faculty member 
involved as to whether he had any objection to the release of the written comments 
submitted by students in this classes.  The faculty member asserted his right of privacy in 
the information.  The University then declined to release the written comments on the 
grounds that they were excepted under section 3(a)(2) which excepts:

(2)	information in personnel files, the disclosure of which would 
	constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy 
	. . . .

	We agree that the individualized handwritten student comments evaluating the 
faculty member are excepted from required public disclosure under section 3(a)(2).  This 
exception was designed to protect against disclosure of intimate details of a highly 
personal nature.  Open Records Decision No. 168 (1977).  This office has held on 
numerous occasions that evaluations of identifiable personnel were not required to be 
made public.  Open Records Decision Nos. 191 (1978); 174, 168, 163, 159 (1977); 129, 
119 (1976); 117, 115, 110, 106, 103, 102, 93, 90, 86, 82, 81, 71, 68 (1975); 60, 55, 20 
(1974).  While statistical compilations of anonymous student evaluations of teachers have 
been held to be public, Open Records Decision Nos. 206 (1978), 167 (1977), 34 (1974), 
each of these decisions carefully described the information involved so as to make it 
clear that it did not include individualized, student-initiated comments.  We believe that 
this type of highly personal, subjective evaluation by one individual of another is the sort 
of information in which there is a substantial privacy interest, and we also believe that 
the legitimate public interest diminishes in proportion to the degree the information 
reflects one individual's personal subjective opinion of another.

	A similar distinction was drawn in Open Records Decision No. 209 (1978).  
There, a school district employee opinion survey was conducted and included both 
responses to a questionnaire and individualized written comments about working 
conditions, supervision, and any other opinions the employer wished to express.  We held 
that the compilation of the responses to the objective portion of the survey were public, 
but that the subjective personalized comments were not.

	Another factor weighing toward excepting this type of information from public 
disclosure is that release of the student's handwritten comments, even though they are not 
signed, would make the identity of the student easily traceable through the handwriting, 
style of expression, or the particular incidents related in the comments.  Such identifiable 
student comments would be excepted from required public disclosure under section 
3(a)(14), which excepts student records.  Open Records Decision No. 214 (1978).  See 
Open Records Decision Nos. 206 (1978); 165 (1977).

	It is our decision that handwritten student evaluations of a teacher are excepted 
from required public disclosure under section 3(a)(2) of the Texas Open Records Act.

Very truly yours,

Mark White
Attorney General of Texas

John W. Fainter, Jr.
First Assistant Attorney General

Ted L. Hartley
Executive Assistant Attorney General

Prepared by William G Reid
Assistant Attorney General

APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE

C. Robert Heath, Chairman
David B. Brooks
Susan Garrison
William G Reid