- 8.0 Ethics Law, Ohio
- 9.0 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- 10.0 Immunity, indemnification, and representation
- 11.0 Personal use of public property
- 12.0 Public records
- 13.0 Required email
- 14.0 Health and safety
The State of Ohio requires all university personnel, including faculty members, to adhere to the Ohio Ethics Law. Additioanl mention can be found on the Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) website with its Legal Topics page and on the Ohio Ethics Commission website.
9.0 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, as amended, sets forth requirements designed to protect the privacy of student educational records. The law governs access to records maintained by educational institutions and the release of information from those records. Additional information can be found in the Privacy and Release of Student Education Records policy.
10.0 Immunity, indemnification, and representation
Ohio law provides university employees with immunity from liability in lawsuits filed in state courts. Individuals seeking to recover damages for the wrongful acts of a university employee must file a state court lawsuit in the Ohio Court of Claims. The defendant in such a case is the university; employees cannot be named individually in the Ohio Court of Claims.
University employees may in some circumstances be named as individual defendants in lawsuits filed in federal courts. However, the university may provide legal representation and pay the amount of any judgment in these cases.
University employees must satisfy two conditions to obtain the benefit of the immunity in state courts and the indemnification in federal court cases:
- The actions of the employee giving rise to the lawsuit must be within the scope of the employee’s duties.
- The employee cannot be found to have acted with malice, in bad faith, or with reckless disregard as to the consequences of their actions.
Further information concerning the legal liabilities of faculty members, including TIU heads, may be obtained from OLA.
11.0 Personal use of public property
Unauthorized use of university property for personal purposes is prohibited and could result in criminal charges. In certain limited circumstances, faculty members may use university property in connection with activities authorized under the Outside Activities and Conflicts policy. However, faculty members must obtain prior approval from their TIU head and must reimburse the university for the fair market value of such use.
The Ohio Public Records Act defines a “record” as any document, device, or item, regardless of physical form or characteristic, created or received by, or coming under the jurisdiction of, any public office of the state or its political subdivisions, which serves to document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the office.
Such records shall be promptly prepared and made available for inspection to any persons at all reasonable times during regular business hours. Upon request, a person responsible for public records shall make copies available at cost, within a reasonable period of time.
An academic unit should have a single person responsible for dealing with routine public records requests and in most cases that person should be the TIU head. The TIU head or other person responsible for handling such requests may wish is to immediately contact the Public Records unit in the Office of University Compliance and Integrity when they receive a records request that is other than routine (e.g., the request is from an attorney and/or involves legal issues; appears to be ambiguous or overly broad; or is worded in manner such that the office cannot identify the public records being requested).
The Act does not require that records be created in response to a request. If there is no record that corresponds to a request, then there is no record to be provided.
The Act allows public entities to charge reasonable costs for making copies. If a unit receives a request for copies of records that appears to justify cost recovery, it should seek the advice of the Office of University Compliance and Integrity. To facilitate prompt access to public records and to ensure compliance with the Ohio Public Records Act, all employees are expected to comply with the university’s public record policy.
The Ohio Revised Code requires public institutions and agencies to abide by the rules for the disposition of public records as established by the State Records Administrator. However, the law exempts public institutions of higher education from the State Records Administrator and authorizes them to establish their own programs of records retention and disposition.
At Ohio State, authority for matters of records retention and disposition is vested in the University Archives. University Archives maintains a schedule governing the retention and disposition of records common to university units. University Archives also develops schedules for units in cases when they have records not listed on the General Schedule. These schedules are specific to units and are in conformity with Records Retention for Public Colleges and Universities in Ohio: A Manual.
The Ohio State University is committed to protecting the information created by and entrusted to us. Faculty and staff conducting university business by electronic mail are required to use the university-managed osu.edu mailbox and related systems. Using the OSU email account ensures that we are protecting information as required under state or federal laws and regulations.
Faculty must comply with all health and safety requirements mandated by the university to ensure the health and safety of the campus community. Faculty who fail to comply may be subject to corrective actions, including but not limited to disciplinary action under University Faculty Rule 3335-5-04.