Except as otherwise specifically provided by law or this policy, all records
of the State Board of Higher Education, the North Dakota University System
and its institutions are, pursuant to N.D.C.C. Section 44-04-18, public records,
open and accessible for inspection during regular office hours.
- Student education records are confidential and access to those records
is restricted according to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of
1974, as amended (FERPA). Pursuant to FERPA, each institution shall:
- a.
- Adopt a policy as required by 34 CFR Section 99.7;
- b.
- Annually notify students currently in attendance of their rights under
FERPA;
- c.
- Except as provided under FERPA and 34 CFR Section 99.31, relating to
conditions under which personally identifiable information may be disclosed
without consent, obtain a signed and dated written consent of a student
before it discloses personally identifiable information from the student's
education records;
- d.
- Maintain a record of each request for access to and each disclosure
of personally identifiable information from the education records of each
student as required by 34 CFR Section 99.32;
- e.
- Provide the notice required by 34 CFR Section 99.37 concerning disclosure
of directory information;
- f.
- Adopt procedures implementing FERPA provisions governing release and
transfer of student disciplinary records. Consistent with FERPA, student
disciplinary records are confidential and may be released only as permitted
under FERPA and implementing institution procedures; and
- g.
- Comply with all other requirements of FERPA and applicable regulations.
-
-
- NDSU Guidelines:
- NDSU provides an annual notice informing students of their FERPA
rights which constitutes its FERPA policy. Other provisions related to
FERPA rights can be found in Policy 601-Code of Student Behavior.
- Records of former students, including deceased former students, are confidential
except that records of deceased former students may be released or disclosed
at the request of a parent, personal representative, or other qualified
representative of the student's estate, or pursuant to a court order or
subpoena.
- Access to and disclosure of campus police records is governed by N.D.C.C.
Section 44-04-18.7. Accordingly, active criminal intelligence information
and active criminal investigative information are exempt from the open records
law. Each campus law enforcement agency shall maintain a list of all files
containing active criminal intelligence and investigative information which
have been in existence for more than one year, which shall be subject to
disclosure under N.D.C.C. Section 44-04-18.
a. Campus police records which are open and must be disclosed
under Section 44-04-18.7 include: arrestee
description; facts concerning the arrest;
conviction information; disposition of all warrants; a chronological
list of incidents, including
initial offense report information; a crime summary, including a departmental
summary of crimes reported and public
calls for service; radio log; and general registers.
b. Law enforcement records and files concerning a child,
as that term is defined at N.D.C.C. ch.27-20, shall be
kept separate from the records and
files of adults and shall not be open to public inspection and may not be
disclosed except according to the provisions
of N.D.C.C. ch. 27-20.
c. Records of undercover law enforcement officers are
confidential and exempt from the open records law as
provided by N.D.C.C. Section 44-04-18.3.
- Personnel records, other than personnel records that relate to an individual
in attendance at the agency or institution who is employed as a result of
his or her status as a student, are public records open to inspection by
the public. However, pursuant to N.D.C.C. Section 44-04-18.1, employee
medical and employee assistance program records are confidential and may
not be placed in an employee's personnel file and may not be released without
the written consent of the employee. Further, personal information
as defined in section 44-04-18.1, including a person's home address, home
telephone number, photograph, medical information, motor vehicle operator's
identification number, social security number, payroll deduction information,
the name, address, phone number, date of birth of any dependent or emergency
contact, any credit, debit or electronic fund transfer card number, and
any account number at a bank or other financial institution, are exempt
from the open records law and may be released only as required by law, pursuant
to an institution policy or with the employee's written consent. Placement
of documents in an employee's personnel file is governed by N.D.C.C. Section
54-06-21.
NDSU Guidelines:
a. N.D.C.C. Section 54-06-21 states that the "official"
personnel file is "the file maintained under the
supervision of the agency head"
or designated representative. At NDSU, the "official file" location
is designated as
follows:
Non-Broadbanded employees
Faculty
(ranked), lecturers
and
Deans Office
graduate assistants
Extension/Ag.
Experiment
Staff
VP of Agriculture Office
Other
non-broadbanded
staff Office
of Human Resources/Payroll
All Broadbanded employees Office
of Human Resources/Payroll
b. Official files must include an access record.
The access record must contain the date and name of
any person viewing the file
except when the custodian of the file is inserting salary, insurance, medical,
tax, Workers Compensation, pretax
benefits, deferred compensation information or employment forms
pursuant to N.D.C.C. Section
54-06-21.
- Additional records exempt from the open records law include (without
limitation):
a. Information pertaining to an employee's retirement
account balance, disability applications and benefits, and
surviving spouse applications and benefits
under N.D.C.C. ch. 54-52 or a plan adopted by the board
(N.D.C.C. Section 54-52-26);
b. Certain economic development records (N.D.C.C. Section
44-04-18.2);
c. Trade secret, proprietary, commercial and financial
information (N.D.C.C. Section 44-04-18.4 and SBHE
Policy 611.6);
d. Computer software programs or components for which
a copyright, patent or license is acquired (N.D.C.C.
Section 44-04-18.5);
e. Attorney work product (N.D.C.C. Section 44-04-19.1);
f. Social security number, which is confidential under N.D.C.C. Section
44-04.28
- Copies of records not exempt from section 44-04-18 shall be provided
upon request. Copies shall be made of records and documents in the
form filed or kept in the normal course of business and employees are not
required to retrieve and collate or summarize data or prepare other special
reports or documents not required by law or otherwise prepared in the normal
course of business. A fee for allowing access to documents may not
be assessed; however, each institution shall establish and collect a fee
to cover reasonable copying costs, including reasonable cost of computer
generated documents. The fee for standard paper copies may not exceed twenty-five
cents per copy as provided under section 44-04-18. A fee not to exceed twenty-five
dollars per hour, excluding the first hour, may not be charged per request
for locating records if locating the records requires more than one hour
or for excising confidential or closed material if excising the material
requires more than one hour. Access to electronically stored records is
free if the records are recoverable without the used of computer backup;
if a request is made for access to a record on a back-up or for a copy of
an electronically stored record an additional reasonable fee may be charged
to cover costs attributable to the use of information technology resources.
NDSU Guidelines:
- a. NDSU departments may charge a fee up to twenty-five
cents per page for paper copies provided to persons requesting copies under
the Open Records Act. A reasonable fee can be charged for electronic
copies as well as costs for the use of technology resources. A fee of up
to $25/hour, excluding the first hour, can be charged for locating records
or redacting information that is not open.
- b. Monies collected from the persons making such requests
must be deposited at the NDSU Business Office at least weekly, daily if
amounts collected are $200 or greater (see policy 508.)
-
- c. Responses to open records requests, other than
routine requests in the normal course of business in an office or department,
shall be coordinated through:
- (1) From the media: The Office of the Vice President for University
Relations.
- (2) From other sources: The Office of the General Counsel.
- d. State law mandates that responses to open records cannot be unreasonably
delayed, so that such requests must be given a high priority.
HISTORY: May 1998; revised April 2003, October 2005.
Aubrey Ketterling
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 25, 2005, 3:03 PM
Published by North Dakota State University
