Audience

• Entomology, Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Plant Pathology and Hub employees (faculty and staff)

Overview

Under the Wisconsin Public Records law, UW-Madison records are generally considered available to the public. This means that if someone requests to see or obtain university records, we will provide the records to them, subject to a few important exceptions.

UW-Madison has a centralized, designated unit in the Office of Compliance, called the Public Records Office, that manages these requests. The website includes information about the process used by the Public Records Office to respond to requests.

Reading the full Guidelines will be most helpful, but here are a few key reminders:

• If you receive a request for records, do not turn over anything in response to the request. Please contact the Public Records Custodian or the Assistant Public Records Custodian in the Office of Compliance. They will coordinate the formal response process on behalf of UW-Madison.
• A “record” is any material containing information that relates to university business. This includes, but is not limited to, paper documents, computer files, text messages, emails, voicemails, photographs, Microsoft Teams chats, and video. More information about what is and is not a “record” for the purposes of the Public Records law is in the Guidelines.
• University records stored on personal devices such as cell phones and home computers are still records subject to disclosure. For example, if you use a personal cell phone to send or receive text messages related to university business, those text messages are subject to disclosure under the law.

Questions

• Contact the Public Records Office at (608) 265-6018 or public_records@wisc.edu.