Two Reasons Why We Can’t Provide Tinubu’s Academic Record – Chicago State University

Two Reasons Why We Can’t Provide Tinubu’s Academic Record – Chicago State University

Chicago State University (CSU) asserts that the United States’ federal law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), prohibits the disclosure of President Bola Tinubu’s academic records without consent or a court order.

While emphasizing FERPA’s safeguarding of student privacy, CSU does confirm that President Tinubu indeed attended the university and obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1979.

Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria’s 2023 elections, sought Tinubu’s academic records at CSU through a subpoena in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Atiku believed that accessing Tinubu’s academic records would bring clarity to the controversies surrounding the President’s educational background.

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During the recent court proceedings in Chicago, CSU’s counsel, Michael Hayes, informed Judge Jeffrey Gilbert that the institution could not verify Tinubu’s certificate as either authentic or fraudulent.

“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.”