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Confidentiality of College and Dept Communications

TO: Liberal Arts Department and School Heads

FROM: Christopher Yeomans

DATE: July 22, 2026**

SUBJECT: Confidentiality of CLA Documents and Records

The University has several policies that provide guidelines regarding the confidentiality of university documents and records. University Policy VIII.A.4, “Access to Student Education Records”, protects the privacy of educational records of students. Purdue's Records Policies, including procedures for Public Records Requests and Third-Party Subpoenas for University Records, present the University’s position regarding access to university records. Please be sure that you are familiar with them. https://www.purdue.edu/vpec/policies/records/

In addition, I would like to clarify the college’s position regarding the confidentiality of college and departmental communications. For the purposes of this memo, communications include emails, memoranda, letters, and spoken conversations.

  1. Primary Committee Discussions: Primary Committee discussions, and the documents presented to that committee, are considered confidential. They are not shared with anyone other than members of the Primary Area, or University Promotions Committees. Of course, individuals under consideration for promotion and/or tenure will be familiar with the contents of their own document (except for comments of an evaluative nature from external or internal sources). In a parallel manner, Area and University Promotions Committee deliberations, discussions, and documents presented to that committee are also confidential.
  2. Distribution of Communications: Communications between faculty and staff members, or the department head and faculty or staff, should be sent only to those addressed and to those copied (including blind copies) on the communication. Communications should not be distributed by anyone other than the one(s) who sent them originally. There may be times when the sender and the receiver of the communication both agree to distribute the communication more widely. If all parties agree, communications may be distributed more widely.
  3. Evaluative Discussions and Letters: Evaluative discussions or letters of any kind, whether they involve evaluation of the performance of a student, staff, or faculty member, should retain confidential status. Envelopes containing these evaluative letters should be clearly stamped, and emails containing them should be tagged, as confidential.

There will always be unique circumstances that require judgment. If you have questions about a situation, don’t hesitate to contact the Dean’s Office.

Revision of a policy originally distributed in 1994 by Dean David Caputo.

*2nd revision distributed in 2016 by Dean David Reingold.

**3rd revision distributed in 2026 by Dean Christopher Yeomans.