Academic Honesty Red Bag: DOCUMENTATION

1. Academic Honesty Red Bag: DOCUMENTATION Carolyn Heald Information & Privacy Office May 6, 2011

2. What documentation is in an academic honesty file? • What documentation is created in the academic honesty process? • Formal complaint • Notice of exploratory meeting • Admission summary • Summary of matter • Formal charge • Admission / waiver of hearing statement • Student response • Intention to call witnesses • Notice of penalty hearing • Penalty submission • Written decision • Consistency of terminology • Documentation standards

3. How to manage “active” documentation • Why manage the documentation • Maintain confidentiality of sensitive personal information • Avoid privacy breach • FIPPA-able • Keep control over who creates and receives documentation • Avoid proliferation of copies; secretary should retrieve paper copies from committee members and send out reminders to destroy e-copies • Share on a need-to-know basis • Establish rules for record-handling • Maintain records confidentially • Keep files in locked office / cabinets or on a restricted drive • Avoid taking files home or storing on a home computer • If you must, take extra precaution to avoid losing files, flash drives, etc.

4. How to manage “semi-active” and “closed” documentation • Where is documentation stored? • Paper (storage should be secure; environmentally sound) • Electronic (drive should be limited access; backed up; avoid portable storage media) • Email? • Make sure email is either printed and filed in a hardcopy file, or filed in a separate folder (i.e., not left randomly in your Inbox / Sent) • Consult the Common Records Schedule to determine • Who holds the official record • How long to retain records • What to do with the records when the retention period expires (either destroy or retain permanently)

5. Common Records Schedule • STU36: Academic Honesty – Case Files • formal “Record of Proceeding” retained permanently in the Office of the Dean of the student’s home faculty • where applicable, copy of decision retained permanently by Registrar • STU36-05: Academic Honesty – No Finding – Case Files • for exploratory meetings: destroy all records • for formal hearings at the faculty level: • records held by the student’s home faculty until appeals procedures exhausted or abandoned • thereafter, complaint and decision letter retained permanently in confidential file in the Dean’s Office; all other records destroyed • ADG12-06: Senate Appeals Committee (SAC) – Case Files • request to appeal and decision letter retained permanently • all other documentation destroyed after 10 years

6. Disposing of Documentation • Destroy documentation confidentially • Keep a record of destruction (use Records Destruction Approval form) • Put in confidential bins or use a cross-cut shredder • Ensure copies are destroyed • Faculty members and departments must be instructed to destroy their copies • Make sure email records are deleted

7. Information and Privacy Office • Carolyn Heald • Director and Coordinator, Information & Privacy Office • tel: 416-736-2100 ext. 20398 • email: cheald@yorku.ca • Website: http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/infoprivacy • General email: info.privacy@yorku.ca