Fredonia Record Retention Policy

The goals of this policy are:

1. to ensure that all non-critical records are retained for no longer than the minimum period required by law, thereby eliminating the storage space problem and minimizing expenses;

2. to ensure that all critical records, including those which may substantially affect the obligations of the Foundation or document the Foundation’s compliance with the law, are retained for a sufficient period of time as to be useful to that end; and

3. to ensure that records are destroyed only pursuant to a standard policy which has been developed for business reasons.

Attached to this policy is a Records Retention Schedule. This Schedule sets forth the recommended retention periods for each category of records. The categories are intended to be general and should be interpreted as including all types of records relating to that category, including correspondence, notes, reports, etc. Documents that are sent to storage should be identified by category and should indicate a planned destruction date determined in accordance with the attached schedule. The individual responsible for carrying out this policy shall use these dates to identify records ready for destruction.

This policy shall apply to all records regardless of whether the records are stored on paper or on computer hard drives, floppy disks or other electronic media. See the separate attachment to this policy for the Guidelines for Disposition of Electronic Mail Messages.

The Executive Director of the Fredonia College Foundation is responsible for the administration and enforcement of this policy. Either the Executive Director or another responsible person must monitor compliance with the retention periods. That person is specifically charged with overseeing periodic reviews of records in accordance with the policy.

The Foundation acknowledges its responsibility to preserve information relating to litigation, audits and investigations. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of July 30, 2002, makes it a crime to alter, cover up falsify, or destroy any document to prevent its use in an official proceeding. Failure on the part of employees to follow this policy can result in possible civil and criminal sanctions against the Foundation and its employees and possible disciplinary action against responsible individuals (up to and including termination of employment). Each employee has an obligation to contact the Executive Director regarding a potential or actual litigation, external audit, investigation or similar proceeding involving the Foundation that may have an impact as well on the approved records retention schedule.

The legally-required retention periods set forth on the attached schedule presumes the operation of the Foundation in the “ordinary course of business.” Destruction of records relating to litigation or governmental investigations may constitute a criminal offense. The Executive Director shall be responsible for suspending destruction of any Foundation records as soon litigation, federal government investigation, civil action, audit by a governmental agency or enforcement proceeding is suspected, reasonably anticipated or is commenced against the Foundation, its officers, directors or employees. The Executive Director shall be responsible for notifying individuals at the Foundation responsible for record retention activities to ensure that destruction of records is suspended until the litigation, investigation or proceeding is complete.

GUIDELINES FOR DISPOSITION OF ELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGES

Work related electronic mail (“e-mail”) messages are corporate records and must be treated as such. It is the responsibility of the sender of the e-mail message and the recipient of messages from outside the Foundation to manage e-mail messages according to this records retention policy. An e- mail message that does not meet the definition of a record (i.e., personal e-mail or junk e-mail) should be deleted immediately from the system.

Fredonia’s e-mail servers are NOT intended for long-term record retention. E-mail messages and any associated attachment(s) with retention periods greater than three (3) years should be kept in similar fashion to paper records or electronically stored in an appropriate file on the network drive, so that it may be maintained and stored in accordance with the records retention policy. It is important to note that the e-mail messages should be kept with the attachment(s). The printed or electronic copy of the e-mail message must contain the following header information:

• who sent the message;
• date and time the message was sent; and
• who the message was sent to;
• the subject of the message.

When e-mail is used as a transport mechanism for other record types, it is possible, based on the content, for the retention and disposition periods of the e-mail message and the transported record(s) to differ. In this case, the longest retention period shall apply.

An e-mail message can be deleted once a paper copy has been printed or the e-mail message has been stored electronically in a file on the network drive. The paper copy or the electronic copy must be retained for the correct time period as determined by this record retention policy. 

RECORDS RETENTION SCHEDULE