The Baruch College Faculty Handbook

Records Retention Policy

Last updated on 6/4/07

Note to Departments: Department Chairs should plan to collect grade books or rosters from adjuncts if they aren't scheduled to teach the next term. Departments should make arrangements for storage and then disposal of exams etc. when professors take a new job or retire.

How long should members of the faculty retain records of student grades, attendance, etc.? The document that follows is based on an email circulated on June 1, 2007 by CUNY's Deputy General Counsel Jane Sovern:

Subject: CUNY's New Records Retention and Disposition Schedule

Linked below is a searchable copy (PDF) of CUNY's new Records Retention and Disposition Schedule, which was recently [2007] completed by the Office of the General Counsel and approved by the New York State Archives. Together with initiatives begun by the Office of Executive Vice Chancellor Allan Dobrin, this new CUNY Schedule will ensure that individual records are retained as long as required for administrative, legal, and fiscal reasons and will encourage and facilitate the systematic disposal of unneeded records.

The new Schedule, which is effective immediately, replaces and supersedes the University's current schedule, which was issued in 1993, as well as all other retention guidelines that College and University officials may have adopted from time to time. Dozens of individuals within CUNY with knowledge of an extensive range of College and University functions have provided valuable input in the preparation of the new Schedule. We thank them for their time and insight.

The new Schedule consists of an introduction establishing guidelines for the use of the Schedule, the Schedule itself, and an index. It is available not only in the printable pdf version linked below but also, as of May 31, 2007, in a searchable online version with hyperlinks that is accessible through the CUNY portal.

The full text of the new Schedule can be accessed online at the CUNY Policy Documents Site at http://policy.cuny.edu/pdf_source/rrs.pdf. In addition, in order to make the online use of the new Schedule even easier, you can access the new Schedule using the following different features available on the CUNY Policy Documents Site: (1) the Table of Contents feature at www.cuny.edu/policy/toc/rrs, (2) the Index feature at www.cuny.edu/policy/index/rrs, and (3) the Search Function feature at www.cuny.edu/policy/search, which allows users to choose among natural language, guided, and command searches of different documents on the site, including the new Schedule.

Here is a PDF of the CUNY Records Retention Policy.

As required by State law, the University has designated a University Records Management Coordinator, currently Linda Shatzer, to coordinate the proper retention and disposition of records throughout all CUNY Colleges and the Central Office. Each College will also have its own Records Management Coordinator, to be appointed by the College President. Over the next year, the University Records Management Coordinator and the Office of the General Counsel will provide the college Records Management Coordinators with training in the implementation of the new Schedule and CUNY's new records management program.

If you have any inquiries about the new Schedule, please contact Assistant General Counsel Dick Malina at richard.malina@mail.cuny.edu. If you have any technical questions about the use of the CUNY Policy Documents Site, please contact the Policy Documents Site Team at pds.team@mail.cuny.edu.