The University of Utah is among the most restrictive schools in the nation in withholding student-related information, according to findings in a six-month study by the Columbus Dispatch.

Authorities at the U. cite a 1974 federal law meant to keep academic records private to justify the practice. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Dispatch 's reporting found, is interpreted differently throughout the country as each university makes its own judgment on what qualifies as an "educational record" subject to the law. The Dispatch requested public records from all 119 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Utah State University, conversely, was cited as one of the nation's most open -- providing the Dispatch with all information as requested. As a private institution, Brigham Young University did not have to comply with the requests.

The investigation found that of the 69 schools that provided information, about half censored flight manifests for its football team and only 20 percent gave full information about summer jobs held by football players.

The Utes were noted for blacking out the names of students in summer job forms, NCAA violations, complimentary tickets and flight manifests. The U. was one of 23 schools that redacted students' names from every document, according to the Dispatch .

Former U.S. Sen. James L. Buckley, who crafted the law, told the Dispatch that FERPA, as the law is known, was never meant to shield schools from accounting for basic documents such as those requested by the newspaper.

"That's not what we intended," said Buckley, a former federal judge. "The law needs to be revamped. Institutions are putting their own meaning into the law."

Utah athletic director Chris Hill referred all inquiries about the U.'s policies to Robert Payne, the university's associate general counsel. Payne defended the censorship.

"FERPA defines 'educational records' very broadly to include any records that are 'directly related to a student,' and maintained by the institution," he said through a spokeswoman. "We see no exceptions or exclusions under FERPA that would allow the University of Utah to disclose the records in question without redacting student names from the records."

Many institutions disagree with Payne.

Jeff Crosbie, an assistant athletic director at Utah State who handles that university's records requests, said it was policy that, as a state-funded institution, all of Utah State's information is open to the public unless it involves grades. The Dispatch cited Utah State as one of only three universities in the nation that did not censor any information.

"Our philosophy is if you are hiding something, then you're probably doing something illegal, so our stance is we're pretty open and we've been open with the students on campus and the faculty and staff to let them know where we stand," he said. "They trust us and understand we're trying to do what is best in the interest of the university."

As another example, the University of New Mexico does not classify flight manifests and ticket lists as education records. The U. does.

"All over the country, there are lawyers who curse the law," Lawrence White, consultant to university counsel at New Mexico, told the Dispatch . "FERPA is so clear. We have no discretion."

Salt Lake City attorney Jeff Hunt, who founded the Utah Freedom of Information Hotline in 1992, said differences in interpretation are often with the individuals who make them.

"The bottom line of if the information gets released or not is up to each general counsel," he said. "The intent was to protect grades. Early on, there was a lot of over-reacting as schools used it in cases of crime and we had a lot of calls about it. We don't see it as much anymore."

Utah wasn't the only school the Dispatch cited as having aggressive FERPA policies.

Florida blacked out almost every word of NCAA violations involving its football and basketball teams, for example. Ohio State stripped names from most of its records, even its own letterhead on faxes. Iowa did not turn over a letter that contained the names of the football coach and athletic director from a mother who said her child had been raped to the state's oversight board for higher education on the basis of FERPA. Maryland told the Dispatch it would comply with the requests if the newspaper paid $35,330 in fees.

The Salt Lake Tribune also has encountered varying application of FERPA when it conducted a 2007 investigation into college drug testing.

Arizona State University, for example, refused to provide any records on positive drug tests, citing FERPA. The University of Arizona supplied bulk numbers of positive tests but did not disclose the athletes' names or sports. The University of Utah and Utah State University also disclosed the number of positives but not the names or the sports.

"Things have gone wild," Buckley told the Dispatch . "These are ridiculous extensions. One likes to think common sense would come into play. Clearly, these days, it isn't true."

Many organizations are concerned that schools are abusing the ambiguity of FERPA. Charles Davis, the executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, said schools are rarely called to task for using FERPA in inappropriate ways.

"I think that nationwide, a lot of meaningful scrutiny of universities and schools is sacrificed in the interest of overbroad FERPA claims," he said.

Kadie Otto, the president of the Drake Group whose mission is to maintain academic integrity in college sports, said the abuses of FERPA are just one of many issues her group hopes to address as it pushes for changes in college athletics. The Drake Group is calling for the formation of an Office of the Commissioner of Intercollegiate Athletics to oversee such reform and to give guidance into such issues as the use of FERPA.

She pointed out such inconsistencies of releasing GPAs when it suits schools and protecting them when it doesn't as an issue that must be addressed.

"They've warped it in such a way to protect their image," Otto said. "It's a clear misuse of that legislation."

Staff writer Nate Carlisle contributed to this report.