The University of North Carolina at Wilmington is open and responsive to information requests from the public and the news media. In instances where there is a question about the legality of releasing information, campus units receiving public records requests should consult with the office of general counsel. This policy shall be implemented in accordance with the NC Public Records Act and other applicable federal and state laws.

Public Records Requests

All records created or received in the course of university business, in whatever format including paper, photographs, recordings, or emails, constitute public records unless an exception applies.

Individuals who seek to access public records of the university should direct a written request to the custodian of the records being sought. The custodian of records is the person responsible for a particular office or type of record maintained at the university. For instance, student record requests should be directed to the registrar, personnel records requests should be directed to the director of human resources, and law enforcement records requests should be directed to the chief of police.

1. Personnel records

An employee's personnel records are confidential in accordance with the NC Personnel Records Act, except the following information is public about every employee:

2. Name;
3. Age;
4. date of original employment or appointment to state service;
5. current salary;
6. date and amount of most current increase or decrease in salary;
7. date of most recent promotion, demotion, transfer, suspension, separation or other change in position classification; and
8. office or station to which the employee is currently assigned.
   
9. Students' academic, medical and counseling records

State privilege laws require that medical and counseling records be kept confidential, and federal disabilities law requires confidentiality for medical information provided in connection with Americans with Disability Act and the Rehabilitation Act. In addition, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, restricts information that can be released about a student. UNCW’s FERPA Policy states what information about a student may be released, also known as directory information. Before releasing directory information about any student, the custodian receiving the request must check with the registrar’s office to determine whether the student has placed a privacy block on the information.

3. Patent applications and other documents that contain trade secrets
4. Certain criminal investigation and law enforcement records
5. Minutes of closed meetings under the NC Open Meetings Act

If the request is such as to require extensive use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance, or if producing the record in the medium requested results in a greater use of information technology resources than that established by the university for reproduction of the volume of information requested, then the university may charge, in addition to the actual cost of duplication, a special service charge, which shall be reasonable and shall be based on the actual cost incurred for such extensive use of information technology resources or the labor costs of the personnel providing the services, or for a greater use of information technology resources that is actually incurred by the agency or attributable to the agency. The custodian shall estimate the costs of such extraordinary requests prior to making the documents available for inspection and allow the requestor the option of either agreeing to pay the costs or revising the request to narrow its nature or scope.

Public records may not be destroyed, except in accordance with the university’ records retention schedule.