Section 5151.10  Purpose

 

These rules shall govern access to public records of the University of Illinois and its subsidiary bodies under the State Records Act and the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

 

Section 5151.20  Definitions

 

a)         "Head of the public body" means President of the University of Illinois.

 

b)         "Public Records Officer" means an employee of the University of Illinois designated by the President of the University to perform the duties specified in Section 5151.30 of these rules.

 

c)         Terms defined in the Freedom of Information Act shall have the same meaning in these rules.

 

Section 5151.30  Public Records Officers

 

a)         There shall be one public records officer on each campus of the University of Illinois.  The public records officers are responsible for ensuring appropriate University response to requests for access to records under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and the State Records Act. The designation of public records officers shall not be construed to prohibit officials who have in the past been authorized to make records or information available to the public from continuing to do so.

 

b)         Public records officers shall:

 

1)         Implement these rules governing access to public records.

 

2)         Coordinate the efforts of other University employees under the State Records Act, the Freedom of Information Act and these rules.

 

3)         Maintain and make available for public inspection the list of types or categories of records described in Section 5151.40 of these rules.

 

4)         Assist the public in identifying requested records.

 

5)         Extend the time for acting on a request, if necessary, for any of the reasons specified in Section 3 of the Freedom of Information Act.

 

6)         After records are located and reviewed, make the records available for inspection or deny access to the records in whole or in part.

 

7)         Explain in writing the reasons for denial of access, the names and titles of persons responsible for denial and inform the requester of his or her right to appeal to the President of the University.

 

8)         Upon request for a copy of a record which is subject to public inspection, make a copy available upon compliance with fee and copyright requirements.

 

9)         Upon request certify that a copy is a true copy.

 

10)         Upon failure to locate records state that the University is not the custodian for such records or that the records cannot be found after diligent search.

 

11)         Maintain in the Office of the Public Records Officer a public file of denials indexed according to type of record requested and type of exemption asserted by the University.

 

Section 5151.40  List of Types or Categories of Records

 

The list of types or categories of records which is maintained by the public records officer for public inspection shall be a reasonably current list of the types or categories of records maintained by the University after July 1, 1984, whether or not the records are available to the public.

 

Section 5151.50  Request to Inspect or Obtain a Copy of Records

 

a)         All requests under the Freedom of Information Act or State Records Act to inspect or obtain a copy of records shall be in writing and directed to the public records officer at one of the following addresses:

 

Public Records Officer

University of Illinois

302 Swanlund Administration Building

Champaign, Illinois  61820

 

Public Records Officer

University of Illinois

2801 University Hall

Chicago, Illinois  60680

 

b)         Each request shall include the following information:

 

1)         Name and address of the person making the request.

 

2)         A reasonable description of the record or records sought.  Whenever possible, the person requesting records should supply dates, file designations or other information that describes the records sought.

 

3)         The public records officer shall note the date and time of day on the request in order to establish time of receipt.

 

Section 5151.60  Inspection and Copying of Public Records

 

a)         Public records of the University of Illinois and its subsidiary bodies which are required by the Freedom of Information Act or the State Records Act to be made available for public inspection shall be made available under the supervision of the public records officer.  Inspection of records shall occur only in the place where the records are kept or in the office of the public records officer during regular office hours when the records are not being used by persons performing official duties.  Upon request, the public records officer will make arrangements for an explanation of computer language or print-out format.

 

b)         A person who has requested a copy shall not receive one until and unless the person has paid the fees charged by the University under Section 5151.70 of these rules.  A person who has requested a copy of a work protected by copyright shall not receive one until and unless the person has signed a document containing the University's warning of copyright and has certified that the copy will not be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research.  Subject to compliance with fee and copyright requirements, the public records officer shall provide one copy of the public record if it is required by the Freedom of Information Act or the State Records Act to be made available to the public.

 

Section 5151.70  Fees

 

a)         There shall be no fee charged for:

 

1)         Inspection of records, or

 

2)         The University's costs in searching for and reviewing records.

 

b)         Copies of records on letter or legal size paper shall be provided upon payment of 25¢ per page.

 

c)         If the records cannot be copied on the University's standard office copying equipment, copies will be provided upon payment of a fee reasonably calculated by the public records officer to reimburse the University for actual cost of reproducing the public record on other equipment and for any use of University equipment to copy the record.

 

d)         The fee for each certification of a copy shall be $2.00.

 

e)         Fees may be reduced or waived when the public records officer determines that it is in the public interest to do so and that furnishing the information primarily benefits the general public.

 

Section 5151.80  Denial of Request

 

a)         The public records officer shall:

 

1)         Deny requests to inspect or obtain copies of records described in Section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act.

 

2)         Deny requests to inspect or obtain copies of all records within a category if compliance with the request would be unduly burdensome for the University and the burden on the University outweighs the public interest in the information.  Before denying such a request, the public records officer shall extend to the person making the request an opportunity to confer with the public records officer and to attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions.

 

b)         If requested records or copies are not made available within the time limits specified in Section 5151.90 of these rules, such failure shall also be deemed a denial of the request.

 

Section 5151.90  Response Time

 

The action of the public records officer allowing inspection of records, providing a copy or denying the request shall be taken within 7 working days after receipt of a written request, unless the time for such action is extended.  The time for allowing inspection, providing a copy or denying the request may be extended by the public records officer for not more than 7 working days for any of the reasons specified in Section 3 of the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Section 5151.100  Appeal to Head of Public Body

 

a)         The President of the University shall decide the appeals of persons who request and are denied access to records under these rules.  Appeals shall be addressed to:

 

President of the University of Illinois

364 Administration Building

506 South Wright Street

Urbana, Illinois  61801

 

b)         The time for deciding an appeal shall commence upon the receipt of a written appeal identifying:

 

1)         The date of the request and the public records office where it was submitted.

 

2)         The records to which the person making the appeal was denied access.

 

3)         Whether the denial of access was in writing or due to failure to provide records within the time specified by these rules.

 

4)         The name and return address of the person making the appeal.

 

c)         Within 7 working days of receipt of appeal, the President of the University will determine whether such record is subject to inspection and copying as specified in these rules, decide the appeal and give notice of the decision to the person making the appeal.  If the President denies the appeal, the letter of denial shall inform the person of his or her right to judicial review.