What to weed

After consulting your departmental records retention schedule, feel free to weed ‘transitory’ documents that do not provide any substantive or unique information about your department/program. These may include:

• calendars
• routine correspondence
• memoranda
• drafts of reports
• mailings from other offices, committees, or departments

Because some department information is archived by other campus offices, including the offices of the Dean of Faculty and the Provost, you can weed and discard other types of records.  Below we’ve noted the office that is keeping the ‘copy of record’, as well as suggested retention periods for your copy.

• Former Faculty Files

  Who keeps copy of record?	copy of record is with the Dean of Faculty during the active phase, later with the President's Office/Archives
  What should you weed/destroy?	Transfer to Dean of Faculty's Office. Applications, salary letters, leave information, evaluations, tenure/promotion information, information re: funding received from the Dean's office, grant award letters, etc.

  See also What to transfer to the Archives

• Department staffing reports

  Who keeps copy of record?	Dean of Faculty
  How long to keep your copy?	Transfer to Dean of Faculty. Permanent.

• Tenure appeal and disciplinary case files

  Who keeps copy of record?	Dean of Faculty
  How long to keep your copy?	Please forward to the Dean of Faculty's Office or the Records Manager (for storage) following termination of the case.

• Department external reviews

  Who keeps copy of record?	Dean of Faculty
  How long to keep your copy?	Transfer to Dean of Faculty's Office. Permanent.

• Curricular development

  Who keeps copy of record?	Final course descriptions, major requirements, etc. archived with the CEP and in the Faculty Meeting Minutes
  How long to keep your copy?	Transfer to Records Manager for review.

  After 7 years, transfer to the Archives documentation of investigation, decision-making, goal setting, etc., (i.e. the thought process behind your department's curriculum).

• Enrollment lists/grade sheets

  Who keeps copy of record?	Registrar
  How long to keep your copy?	Retain for no more than (4) years

• Teaching evaluations

  Who keeps copy of record?	Provost
  How long to keep your copy?	Confidential disposition ten years from creation date.

• Blue sheets

  These should be in the possession of individual faculty only. Please destroy department copies.

• Candidate files for searches

  Retain for (2) years then destroy.

• Grant applications

  Who keeps copy of record?	80-90% archived with the Provost
  How long to keep your copy?	Retain files relating to ongoing grants.

  See also What to transfer to the Archives

• Budget information

  Who keeps copy of record?	Provost/Controller
  How long to keep your copy?	Retain background information on restricted gifts, i.e. how each gift can be spent; Retain general budget/fund information for one year, no more than two years. Transfer to Provost's office or Records Manager for storage.

• TA requests

  Who keeps copy of record?	Dean of Faculty
  How long to keep your copy?	Retain for no more than four years.

• TA personnel files

  Retain for (7) years, then destroy.

• Administrative & support staff personnel files

  Who keeps copy of record?	Copy of record is with the Dean of Faculty during the active phase, later with the President's Office/Archives
  How long to keep your copy?	Recruitment files should be purged after 1 year. Personnel files of retirees and former employees should be sent to Human Resources. HR will review records for incorporation into the employee files.

If you have records in the categories listed above that are recent and/or that you actively use, you should keep them. Your records retention schedule should be the main source of guidance.

Questions? Contact us.

See also: