Ohio Revised Code Requirements

STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND DESTRUCTION AT OHIO'S PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

The following sections of the Ohio Revised Code pertain to the management and destruction of records at Ohio public universities such as NEOUCOM. Please make NOTE of the following:
The authority given to the Board of Trustees. (149.33)
Prohibition against destruction or damage of records. (149.351)
Use NEOUCOM's Records Retention Schedule to comply with the Ohio Revised Code requirements.
§ 149.33 (B) The boards of trustees of state-supported institutions of higher education shall have full responsibility for establishing and administering a records program for their respective institutions. The boards shall apply efficient and economical management methods to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposition of the records of their respective institutions.
§ 149.351 Prohibition against destruction or damage of records.

(A) All records are the property of the public office concerned and shall not be removed, destroyed, mutilated, transferred, or otherwise damaged or disposed of, in whole or in part, except as provided by law or under the rules adopted by the records commissions provided for under sections 149.38 to 149.42 of the Revised Code or under the records programs established by the boards of trustees of state-supported institutions of higher education under section 149.33 of the Revised Code. Such records shall be delivered by outgoing officials and employees to their successors and shall not be otherwise removed, transferred, or destroyed unlawfully.

(B) Any person who is aggrieved by the removal, destruction, mutilation, or transfer of, or by other damage to or disposition of a record in violation of division (A) of this section, or by threat of such removal, destruction, mutilation, transfer, or other damage to or disposition of such a record, may commence either or both of the following in the court of common pleas of the county in which division (A) of this section allegedly was violated or is threatened to be violated:

(1) A civil action for injunctive relief to compel compliance with division (A) of this section, and to obtain an award of the reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the person in the civil action;

(2) A civil action to recover a forfeiture in the amount of one thousand dollars for each violation, and to obtain an award of the reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the person in the civil action.

§ 149.35 Laws prohibiting the destruction of records.

If any law prohibits the destruction of records, neither the state records administrator nor the boards of trustees of state-supported institutions of higher education shall order their destruction or other disposition, and, if any law provides that records shall be kept for a specified period of time, neither the administrator nor the boards shall order their destruction or other disposition prior to the expiration of such period.