FOIA Policy
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides the public the right to request access to records from any public body of the Commonwealth.
About FOIA
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), at § 2.2-3700 et. seq. of the Code of Virginia, provides that:
- All public records shall be open to any citizen of the Commonwealth and certain representatives of the media.
- All public bodies of the Commonwealth are required to disclose records upon receiving a request for them.
- Some records are protected from disclosure through mandatory and discretionary statutory exemptions.
Your FOIA Rights
- You have the right to request to inspect or receive copies of public records, or both.
- You have the right to request any charges for the requested records be estimated in advance.
- If you believe your FOIA rights have been violated, you may file a petition in district or circuit court to compel compliance with FOIA.
Making a request for records
You may request records online at the button below or by U.S. Mail, fax, e-mail, in person, or over the phone. FOIA does not require that your request be in writing, nor do you need to specifically state you are requesting records under FOIA.
- From a practical perspective, it may be helpful to both you and the person receiving your request to put your request in writing. This allows you to create a record of your request. It also gives us a clear statement of what records you are requesting, so there is no misunderstanding over a verbal request. However, we cannot refuse to respond to your FOIA request if you elect to not put it in writing.
- Your request must identify the records you are seeking with “reasonable specificity.” This is a common-sense standard. It does not refer to or limit the volume or number of records you are requesting; instead, it requires you be specific enough so that we can identify and locate the records you are seeking.
- Your request must ask for existing records or documents. FOIA gives you a right to inspect or copy records; it does not apply to a situation where you are asking general questions about the work of New College Institute, nor does it require NCI to create a record that does not exist.
- You may choose to receive electronic records in any format used by New College Institute in the regular course of business.
- For example, if you are requesting records maintained in an Excel database, you may elect to receive those records electronically, via e-mail or on a computer disk, or to receive a printed copy of those records.
- If we have questions about your request, please cooperate with staff’s efforts to clarify the type of records you are seeking, or to attempt to reach a reasonable agreement about a response to a large request. Making a FOIA request is not an adversarial process, but we may need to discuss your request with you to ensure that we understand what records you are seeking.
Responding to your request
- We must respond to your request within five working days of receiving it. “Day One” is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.
- The reason behind your request for public records is irrelevant, and we cannot ask you why you want the records before we respond to your request. FOIA does, however, allow us to ask you to provide your name and legal address.
- FOIA requires we make one of the following responses to your request within the five-day time period:
- We provide you with the records you have requested in their entirety.
- We withhold all of the records you have requested, because all of the records are subject to a specific statutory exemption. If all of the records are being withheld, we must send you a response in writing. That writing must identify the volume and subject matter of the records being withheld, and state the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows us to withhold the records.
- We provide some of the records you have requested, but withhold other records. We cannot withhold an entire record if only a portion of it is subject to an exemption. In that instance, we may redact the portion of the record that may be withheld, and must provide you with the remainder of the record. We must provide you with a written response stating the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows portions of the requested records to be withheld.
- If it is practically impossible for the university to respond to your request within the five-day period, we must state this in writing, explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us seven additional working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 12 working days to respond to your request.
If you make a request for a very large number of records, and we feel we cannot provide the records to you within 12 days without disrupting our other organizational responsibilities, we may petition the court for additional time to respond to your request. However, FOIA requires that we make a reasonable effort to reach an agreement with you concerning the production of the records before we go to court to ask for more time.
Cost
- You may have to pay for the records you request from the university. FOIA allows us to charge for the actual costs of responding to FOIA requests. This would include items like staff time spent searching for the requested records, copying costs, or any other costs directly related to supplying the requested records. It cannot include general overhead costs.
- You may request that we estimate in advance the charges for supplying the records you have requested. This will allow you to know about any costs upfront, or give you the opportunity to modify your request in an attempt to lower the estimated costs.
Types of Records
- Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Records
- Accreditation and Certification Records
- Admissions and Enrollment Records
- Audit Reports
- Board Reports and Minutes of Meetings
- Contracts
- Emergency Operations Plan Records
- Financial Reports
- Fund-raising Reports
- Grant or Contract Research Records
- Legal Records
- Inventory Reports
- Personnel Records
- Risk Management Records
- Workers’ Compensation Records
This list is intended to be a guide; it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every paper and electronic record maintained by New College Institute.
Exemptions
The Code of Virginia allows any public body to withhold certain records from public disclosure. NCI may withhold records subject to the following exemptions:
- Personnel records (§ 2.2-3705.1 (1) of the Code of Virginia)
- Records subject to attorney-client privilege (§ 2.2-3705.1 (2)) or attorney work product (§ 2.2-3705.1 (3))
- Vendor proprietary information software (§ 2.2-3705.1 (6))
- Records relating to the negotiation and award of a contract, prior to a contract being awarded (§ 2.2-3705.1 (12))