Contents
Using These Materials
- RESTRICTIONS:
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Access to parts of the VPAA record group is restricted based on applicable law and university policy. Restricted material includes personnel files, search files, tenure and review files, grievance and disciplinary files and student files. In addition, the VPAA records are subject to these restrictions
- Files of a vice president, or a member of his/her staff, still in office, are restricted.
- Files of a vice president or a member of his/her staff, no longer in office, are restricted for ten years from the date of their origin. Files over ten years old are open. This restriction applies to files added to the record group prior to January 1, 2000.
- Files added to the record group after January 1, 2000 are restricted for twenty years from the date they were added to the record group, in accord with the access policy for executive officer level records as described below. The VPAA record group does not, as yet, include any records in this category.
Access Restrictions for University of Michigan Records
University records are public records and once fully processed are generally open to research use. Records that contain personally identifiable information will be restricted in order to protect individual privacy. Certain administrative records are restricted in accordance with university policy as outlined below. The restriction of university records is subject to compliance with applicable laws, including the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.
Categories of Restricted Records
- Personnel-related files, including search, review, promotion, and tenure files, are restricted for thirty (30) years from the date of their creation.
- Student educational records: FERPA's protection of personally identifiable information in a student's education records ends at the time of a student's death and therefore is a matter of institutional policy. As a courtesy to the families of recently deceased students who were enrolled at the time of death, the University generally will not release information from their education records for five years without the consent of the deceased student's next of kin. Eighty-five (85) years after the date the records were first created, the University will presume that the student is deceased. Thereafter the student's education records will be open. Student records at the Bentley Historical Library are restricted for eighty-five (85) years, but may also be made available upon proof of the death of the student.
- Patient/client records are restricted for one-hundred (100) years from the date of their creation. The terms of use for particular records older than 100 years may require the research to sign a Patient/Client Access Agreement.
- Executive records: Records generated by the university's executive officers, deans, directors, department heads, and their designated support staff are restricted for twenty (20) years from the date of their creation.
Restricted files are indicated in the contents list of the collection’s finding aid with a restriction note indicating the restriction type and the date of expiration.
For further information on the restriction policy and placing Freedom of Information Act requests for restricted material, consult the reference archivist at the Bentley Historical Library (bentley.ref@umich.edu) or the University of Michigan Freedom of Information Office website (https://foia.vpcomm.umich.edu/).
- USE & PERMISSIONS:
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Copyright is held by the Regents of the University of Michigan but the collection may contain third-party materials for which copyright is not held. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.