Current through all regulations passed and filed through March 18, 2024
(A)
Purpose
The purpose of this rule is to comply
with Ohio public records laws which require Cleveland state university to
provide for the efficient and economical creation, utilization, maintenance,
retention, preservation, and disposition of records consistent with the
university's legal obligations. This rule also requires the preservation of
historical permanent institutional records by the university
archives.
(B)
Definitions
(1)
"Active record" means any records that relate to
current business matters and are required to carry out the daily activities of
the department.
(2)
"Disposal" means the removal of records from a
department or office. It does not necessarily refer refer to record
destruction, but rather the various processes of records retention, whether
offsite storage, conversion, or destruction.
(3)
"Electronic
record" means any record that is created, generated, communicated, received,
maintained or stored on any electronic media owned by the university or
controlled by the university or a university employee. Examples include, but
are not limited to: e-mail, word processing documents and spreadsheets, and
databases.
(4)
"Inactive record" means records that are no longer
needed for the daily activities of an office but still have an ongoing
value.
(5)
"Non-record materials" are documents, devices or items
in the university's custody that do not meet the definition of records because
they are not needed to document the organization, functions, policies,
decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the university.
Examples include personal notes, duplicates of existing records, stocks of
publications, and library or museum materials intended solely for reference or
exhibition.
(6)
"Permanent Record" means a record that has continued
historical or other value to warrant retention beyond the time they are needed
for administrative, legal or fiscal purposes.
(7)
"Public records"
are records kept by the university, unless exempted from the definition of
"public record" under division (A)(1) of section
149.43 of the Revised
Code.
(8)
"Records" includes any document, device, or item,
regardless of physical form or characteristic, including an electronic record,
created or received by or coming under the jurisdiction of any public office of
the state or its political subdivisions, which serves to document the
organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other
activities of the university. Personal records of employees, and records of
third parties that are in the custody of the university but do not serve to
document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures,
operations, or other activities of the university are not
records.
(9)
"Records custodian" or "custodian" means the employee
responsible for an identified record or category of records.
(10)
"Records
retention schedule" means a listing of various types of routine, administrative
records common to university offices.
(11)
"Transitory
records" are records which are needed for a limited time to complete a routine
action, are used in the preparation of final records, or are kept as
information or convenience copies by offices or individuals who do not have
primary responsibility for them. Examples include drafts of documents, phone
messages, and emails related to scheduling meetings.
(12)
"Unit leader"
means a department chair, office director, or other administrator that directs
the regular functions of a unit.
(C)
Creation of
records
University employees shall make such
records as are necessary to adequately document the organization, functions,
policies, decisions, procedures, operations, and essential transactions of the
university. A record should be created in the medium that best serves its
purpose; instant messages, text messages, or any other form of communication
that is difficult to share and preserve should not be used in the creation of
records.
(D)
Maintenance of records
(1)
The unit leader
is responsible for ensuring that unit records, including electronic records,
are maintained in such a way that they can be identified and retrieved when
needed.
(2)
Each unit shall develop a records inventory that
describes the categories of records created or maintained by the unit. The unit
leader shall identify a records custodian or custodians for each category of
record. Employees other than the records custodian may maintain records so long
as the records custodian is aware of the records and able to retrieve
them.
(3)
Records may be maintained in paper or electronic form,
so long as they may be identified and retrieved by the custodian. Maintenance
and disposal of electronic records shall be determined by the content of the
records, not the medium. Digitized paper records (such as scanned documents)
may be maintained in place of paper records at the discretion of the department
chair or director. Electronic records must be stored on a university-maintained
shared drive.
(4)
The maintenance of non-record materials should be
avoided.
(5)
When an employee leaves a unit, or the university, the
unit leader shall ensure that any records in the separating employee's
possession are properly transferred to a new records custodian. The unit leader
is responsible for contacting information services and technology to arrange
for the transfer of email and other electronic records to a new custodian
before the accounts are scheduled to be deleted.
(E)
Retention and
disposal of records
(1)
University archives is responsible for the university's
records retention program in cooperation with the office of general counsel and
will:
(a)
Assist university departments and offices in the proper
identification and preservation of active, inactive, and archival
records;
(b)
Retain and preserve necessary information to meet the
university's administrative, financial, legal and historical
needs;
(c)
Help control costs and increase efficiency and through
the systematic maintenance and disposal of university records;
and
(d)
Help increase employee awareness on liability, privacy
issues, regulatory compliance and efficiency issues, as well as university
history
(2)
University records shall be retained for such period as
is required by retention schedules approved by the university's general
counsel. University records other than transitory records may be disposed of
only in accordance with disposition instructions approved by the university's
general counsel. Transitory records are to be discarded when no longer
useful.
(3)
Removal, destruction, mutilation, alteration, transfer
or other disposition of university records except as authorized by the
university archivist is prohibited and may result in disciplinary
action.
(4)
In circumstances in which litigation is filed or
threatened, the office of general counsel shall issue a litigation hold on
certain records.
(a)
The litigation hold overrides any records retention
schedule that may otherwise apply to the relevant records until the hold has
been lifted by the office of general counsel. E-mail and computer accounts of
separated employees that have been placed on a litigation hold by the office of
general counsel will be maintained by information services and technology until
the hold is lifted.
(b)
No employee who has been notified by the office of
general counsel of a litigation hold may alter or delete any record that falls
within the scope of that hold. Violation of the hold may result in disciplinary
action, as well as personal liability for civil and/or criminal sanctions by
the courts or law enforcement agencies.
(F)
Public records
requests
The office of general counsel is
responsible for responding to requests for public records pursuant to the Ohio
public records act. All records custodians shall cooperate with the office of
general counsel to identify and provide all records responsive to a records
request. Determination of whether a university record is a public record shall
be made by the office of general counsel.
(G)
Internal records
request
Department records custodians shall
cooperate with internal records requests. All requests for data shall be
approved by the relevant data custodian, as set forth in rule
3344-8-02
of the Administrative Code.
(H)
Roles and
responsibilities
(1)
University archivist. The university archivist is
generally responsible for the retention and preservation of university's
permanent records. The university archivist may develop administrative
procedures and guidelines for the management and retention of records,
including a standardized records inventory and a university record retention
schedule. Such administrative procedures and guidelines shall be approved by
the general counsel.
(2)
General counsel. The university general counsel is
responsible for responding to requests for public records and for issuing
litigation holds. The general counsel may develop administrative procedures for
responding to public records requests.
(3)
Information
services and technology. Information services and technology is responsible for
maintaining all systems and applications and for retention policies related to
those systems and applications.
(4)
Unit leaders.
Unit leaders have overall responsibility for the creation, maintenance and
retention of records for their department or office. Unit leaders shall ensure
the development of a records inventory, shall identify records custodians, and
shall oversee adherence to the records retention schedule.
(5)
Unit records
custodians. Each unit records custodian is responsible for maintaining records
over which they have custody in a way that allows for the identification and
retrieval of records when needed. Unit records custodians must also cooperate
with the office of general counsel with respect to public records requests and
litigation holds, and must implement the records retention schedule for the
records over which they have custody.