REG 04.00.02 – Public Records Requests

Authority: Issued by the Chancellor. Changes or exceptions to administrative regulations issued by the Chancellor may only be made by the Chancellor.

History: First Issued: July 1, 2002. Last Revised: January 20, 2015.

Contact Info:
Associate Vice Chancellor for Communications (919-515-7373)
Records Officer (919-515-1690)

1. INTRODUCTION

North Carolina State University (NC State), as a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina and an agency of the State of North Carolina, is open and responsive to information requests from the public and the news media. NC State is committed to a policy of openness, honesty and cooperation with members of the public and the news media. This policy is implemented in accordance with the NC Public Records Act, N.C.G.S. Chapter 132.

2. PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS AND RELEASE OF INFORMATION

2.1 Requests from News Media

2.1.1 University Communications is the principal liaison with the news media. News media requests for information should be directed to the News Services unit (919-515-3470) within University Communications.

2.1.2 News media requests for information received by NC State units should be forwarded immediately to News Services. News Services may route non-media requests for records to the University Records Officer for processing.

2.2 Requests from Individuals

2.2.1 Individuals who seek public records from NC State must submit a written request to the University Records Officer, NC State University, Office of General Counsel, Campus Box 7008, Raleigh, NC 27695-7008. The Records Officer will coordinate with the appropriate NC State units to process and respond to the request.

2.2.2 NC State employees who receive a public records request directly from an individual should direct the requestor to contact and forward the request to the University Records Officer.

2.2.3 NC State employees must consult and receive the approval of the University Records Officer, or an attorney in the Office of General Counsel, before releasing any records or other information or otherwise responding to a public records request.

2.3 News Distribution

2.3.1 Authority. To assure coordination of media relations, only two offices are authorized to issue news releases or to hold news conferences on NC State’s behalf: University Communications for university-wide activities; ; and Athletics Communications for athletic activities. All news releases and news conferences should be coordinated through one of those offices. Faculty and staff are encouraged to utilize the resources of University Communications to gain broad recognition of the NC State’s areas of excellence.

2.3.2 Crisis/emergency situations. REG 04.00.01 Standard Operating Procedures for Crisis Communications governs the release of public information in a crisis or emergency situation.

3. COPYING FEE

If the requestor asks for copies of documents, NC State may charge the actual costs of the copies. Generally, NC State will not charge for the costs of copies unless the number of pages exceeds fifty (50) pages. Thereafter, the charge will be five (5) cents per page.

4. SPECIAL SERVICE CHARGE FOR EXTRAORDINARY PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS

If the request requires extensive use of information technology resources or extensive use of personnel for clerical or supervisory assistance, or if producing the records in the medium requested results in an excessive use of information technology resources, then NC State may charge, in addition to the copying fee, a special service charge. The special service charge will be reasonable and no greater than the actual costs incurred. For purposes of this section, NC State considers more than four (4) hours required to respond to a request as constituting an extensive use of personnel. If preparation of the response requires the extensive use of personnel, NC State will charge a presumed rate of $18.00 per hour for each hour, in excess of four hours, required to respond to the request. The University Records Officer will provide an estimate of the costs for an extraordinary request prior to making the records available for inspection or release and allow the requestor the option of either agreeing to pay the charge or revising the request to narrow its nature or scope. Multiple requests within a short period of time from the same individual will be considered a single request for purposes of determining whether to charge under this section.