Policies

Records Retention and Management Policy

Policy Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide procedures for the systematic control of records to meet the College’s operational and legal obligations, as well as preserve its historical records. Records created by the staff and faculty at Farmingdale State College (hereinafter the College) in their administrative roles as they work to fulfill the College’s mission are governed by the New York State (NYS) Arts and Cultural Affairs Law. Proper management, retention, and destruction is necessary.

Persons Affected

Faculty, Staff

Policy Statement

The College is committed to systematically managing, retaining, and destroying records created in the course of its operations and adhering to the State University of New York (SUNY) Records Retention and Disposition Policy. Official records of state-operated campuses may not be destroyed unless in conformity with the General Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York State Government Records with respect to categories of state government records included therein or with the State University of New York Records Retention and Disposition Schedule with respect to education and other SUNY-specific records.

All College employees are responsible for properly managing, retaining, and disposing of College records based on the SUNY Records Retention and Disposition Policy and the College’s Records Retention and Management Procedures. The management of records includes appropriate practices for organizing records, securing confidential or sensitive information contained within records, effective archiving of records determined to have permanent or enduring value, and proper destruction of records deemed to have no permanent or enduring value once operational needs have been met and no legal considerations require retention.

Records created by employees of the College acting within the scope of their employment or in an official capacity are the property of the College. When necessary, litigation holds may be issued for current or future litigation. Litigation holds may require the preservation of documents and records outside of the time-frame required by the retention schedules. Faculty and staff must preserve records subject to a litigation hold until the Office of Legal Affairs provides a Notice of Release of Litigation Hold.

A Records Management Officer will be designated and responsible for administering a program for the proper management of records and serving as a resource for the campus. Each department should designate a Records Coordinator to manage its records and serve as a liaison to the Records Management Officer for the department.

Procedures

A. Storing Records

1. Determine disposition date for the record using the SUNY Retention and Disposition Schedule. If the record is not covered under the SUNY schedule, defer to the NYS General Retention and Disposition Schedule. The schedules provide legal authorization to dispose of common records on a regularly scheduled basis.

2. File records based on category and year to be disposed.

3. Complete file box label for storing inactive records and attached to filing system ( i.e. box or cabinet).

4. If additional storage space is needed, contact the Records Management Officer to coordinate storage with Physical Plant. Storage space is limited and not all requests can be accommodated.

B. Disposing Records

1. Determine disposition date for the record using the SUNY and NYS General Retention and Disposition schedules.

2. Complete Records Management Certificate of Destruction form for each type of record.

3. Submit Records Management Certificate of Destruction to the Records Management Officer.

4. Dispose of records by shredding.

5. For large quantities of records, contact the Records Management Officer to coordinate shredding with Physical Plant.

C. Digitization of Records

Digitization is the process of converting paper records into digital copies. All requests to digitize your records must be submitted to the Records Management Officer and approved by Information Technology. Before submitting a request to digitize your records, please review the digitization section of the SUNY Records Retention Policy.

Definitions

Record – Records are information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, which must be maintained to meet the fiscal, legal, historical, or administrative needs of the organization. Records are defined by content rather than by format and can be hard copies, electronic (including web pages), tapes, maps, photographs, or any other format from which information can be retrieved.

Records include but are not limited to official College publications, fiscal data, official correspondence (including electronic correspondence), minutes of meetings, reports, and student and employee files. For the purposes of this policy, records are defined broadly to encourage consideration of the appropriate use and retention of all information created in the course of business.

Records Management Certificate of Destruction – form indicating records and destruction date that the Records Management Officer needs before records are disposed.

Records Coordinator – departmental designee responsible for managing, retaining and destroying records, as well as participating in relevant trainings and serving as a resource for the department in matters relating to records management and retention.

Records Management Officer – campus designee will provide information, training, and support to the campus in matters relating to proper records management, retention, and destruction.

Responsible Office

Risk and Compliance Office