What is a Record
Records are information, regardless of physical format, which have legal, fiscal, administrative, or enduring value that are created or received by Syracuse University. Records provide evidence of its operations, document business decisions, and/or have value requiring their retention either for a specific period or permanently.
How Long to Keep It
The University Retention Schedule defines SU's policies for how long records must be kept. A retention period is the length of time a record must be retained to comply with legal, fiscal, administrative, or historical needs and requirements. View the University Retention Schedule.
What Not to Keep
Non-records are documents such as drafts, worksheets, routine memos, materials made available from public sources, or duplicate copies of original records created for convenience or distribution. These documents have no retention value and can be disposed of at the discretion of the user. Some other examples include work papers, outlines, notes, to-do lists, reminders, blank forms, labels, or other reading files.
How to Dispose of Records
Discard or recycle records that only contain public data.
Destroy or shred information that contain any sensitive and/or confidential information. Sensitive information includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as date of birth, SSN, credit card numbers, etc.; Personal Health Information (PHI) such as medical records; education records protected by FERPA; and human resources records such as salary information.
All records must be managed in accordance with University policies and in compliance with federal and state laws. The same safeguards and controls over information stored electronically apply as for information created and maintained in paper form.
Manage emails, files on network drives, and other electronically stored information based on its content and determine the appropriate retention period using the University Retention Schedule.Archival records document the history of the University’s organization, activities, functions, policies, and people. Archival records have enduring or historical value and may include, but are not limited to, reports, meeting minutes and agendas, theses and dissertations, SU publications, photographs, and faculty and alumni papers. Due to the historical and/or scholarly significance of these materials, archival records are permanently kept and should be transferred to University Archives when they are no longer needed for business use. Please contact University Archives for any questions regarding the identification and/or transfer of archival records.
