Harvard allegedly obtained student's outside therapy records

"Harvard University allegedly obtained a Title IX complainant’s outside mental health records, absent her permission. How could that be possible? ...

Additionally, in a contested practice, colleges and universities have been known to look at students’ mental health records as part of internal investigations—when the student is seeing a provider who works for the institution. But Kilburn says she was seeing an off-campus counselor unaffiliated with Harvard and that she never gave Harvard permission to ask to see her psychotherapy notes. She hadn’t filed a lawsuit at that point, either, meaning that the university couldn’t have legally compelled the therapist to hand over Kilburn’s file.

So how did Harvard allegedly obtain a Title IX complainant’s third-party, private mental health records without her consent? It remains something of a mystery for now....

Asked if Kilburn ever signed a privacy waiver with her therapist that would have granted the university access to her records, Guentert said Kilburn “has no recollection of signing such a waiver, nor has Harvard provided one to us.”

Guentert further said (as is also alleged in the lawsuit) that Harvard “refused to turn over these records to Ms. Kilburn or to us when we requested them in September 2021.”

Several lawyers told Inside Higher Ed that Harvard would have violated federal law in refusing to share with Kilburn any mental health records it had on her, as those would have become her own educational records once they became part of the sexual misconduct investigation....

Daniel Carter, president of Safety Advisors for Educational Campuses, said that “it is absolutely illegal and improper for an institution of higher education to obtain one of their students’ private therapy records from a third party. There’s no circumstance under which that is permissible without their consent.” ..."