Guide to the Illinois FOIA Act Public Affairs

TheIllinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives the public the right to accessgovernment documents and records. The premise behind FOIA is that the publichas a right to know what its governmentincluding its agencies, bureaus,universities, colleges, and other public bodiesis doing. The law provides thata person can ask a public body for a copy of records on a specific subject andthat public body must provide those records, unless there is an exemption inthe statute that protects the records from disclosure.

Records thata university employee creates or comes to possess in the course of her/his universityduties are subject to FOIA and must be produced when requested unless an exemptionapplies.

Thefollowing points will help you understand how to comply with FOIA.

Its important tounderstand that FOIA does not exempt documents from release simply because suchrelease might cause embarrassment for someone. Furthermore,requestors who believe they have been denied records that should be releasedmay request a review by the Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC) in theIllinois Attorney Generals Office. The PAC may direct disclosure ofinformation previously withheld.

The UniversityRelations Office for the University of Illinois System serves as the singlepoint of intake for FOIA requests of information from any administrators,faculty, or staff on any of the three campuses. If you receive a request,please forward it immediately tofoia@uillinois.edu. The university is requiredto respondto requests within five business days, with an allowance for aone-time five-day extension. Any delay in beginning the response process means lesstime to work with you to ensure responses are complete and, if applicable,properly redacted.

In mostcases, the University Relations Office collaborates with our campus Office of PublicAffairs and the Office of Campus Legal Counsel when responding to FOIArequests. If you are contacted by University Relations or a campus FOIAcoordinator to gather records in response to a request, please remember toforward all records that are requested, even if you believe the information maybe exempt from production. University Relations decides whether it isappropriate to assert exemptions from disclosure (for documents or contentwithin documents).

If youreceive a FOIA request directly from a citizen or outside organization, pleaseforward it immediately to foia@uillinois.edu and theFOIA team will begin working with you on the response.

For more information and an FAQ visit: http://www.uillinois.edu/foia.

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Guide to the Illinois FOIA Act Public Affairs