FAQs
What is a record?
Under Oklahoma law, a "record" encompasses all forms of documentation including books, papers, photographs, microfilm, digital files, computer storage media, audio recordings, film recordings, video materials or any other medium regardless of format. This includes materials that are created, received, maintained, or controlled by public officials, public agencies, or their authorized representatives while conducting official business, managing public funds or administering state property.
According to the Open Records Act, in the event a requested record does not exist, the university is not required to create a new record.
Do you charge for open records:
Public bodies may charge a fee for the recovery of reasonable, direct costs of record copying, mechanical reproduction and for employee time in producing the records.
OSU reserves the right to charge for staff time spent searching when requests are for a commercial purpose or would cause an excessive disruption of business operations. Charges include:
- $25 per hour with a minimum of a one-hour charge
- $50 per commercial request for directory information
- $80 per hour when computer programming is required on a customized request (fee is set by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services)
- $85 per hour fee when additional legal support is required (fee is the rate charged to state agencies for legal support by the Office of the Attorney General)
Payment may be made on this portal.
Are there special instructions for requesting emails?
To properly handle your request, you must provide:
- The full name of the specific OSU employee whose email correspondence you are requesting.
- Each individual requires a separate request submission, as university-wide email searches are not feasible.
- A clearly defined timeframe for the email search.
- Detailed information regarding the subject matter, keywords, or topics relevant to your request.
Email requests present unique difficulties because electronic correspondence may contain both public information and private data protected under state and federal law. Each message must be reviewed to ensure it does not contain information that must be kept confidential such as items protected under FERPA, HIPAA or the Open Records Act. Due to our legal responsibility to safeguard protected information, email requests represent our most resource-intensive and time-consuming record processing category.
Can I request medical records through the Open Records Office?
Medical records requests cannot be processed through our Open Records Office. For inquiries regarding HIPAA-protected health information and medical documentation, please contact University Health Services directly: uhs.okstate.edu
How can I verify employment and income of an employee of Oklahoma State University?
OSU/A&M use services of The Work Number® from Equifax to provide automated employment and/or income verifications of all OSU/A&M employees. The Work Number® streamlines the employment and income verification process.
This change also reduces our risk of liability from providing erroneous or unauthorized information, and OSU employees receive the benefit of rapid verification completion, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Click here for more information: https://hr.okstate.edu/consulting-services/employment-verify.html
How do I request a transcript?
Stop by https://registrar.okstate.edu/transcripts/ to begin the process of ordering a transcript online. For additional help ordering a transcript, please contact Parchment support at https://www.parchment.com/chat-support/. You can also contact us at [email protected] or 405-744-6876.
Procurement/Purchasing
RFP Requests – Processing these requests requires the specific RFP identification number for the relevant project. You must supply the RFP number associated with your inquiry. To obtain this number, contact our Procurement Services directly at (405) 744-5384 or [email protected]
OU Open Records FAQ
Open Records Act
Statutes and Rules: Open Records Act – OK Dept. of Libraries
What is a record?
"Record" means all documents, including, but not limited to, any book, paper, photograph, microfilm, data files created by or used with computer software, computer tape, disk, record, sound recording, film recording, video record or other material regardless of physical form or characteristic, created by, received by, under the authority of, or coming into the custody, control or possession of public officials, public bodies, or their representatives in connection with the transaction of public business, the expenditure of public funds or the administering of public property.
When I make a public records request, is my name private?
No, data about public records requests are public. Any data you provide including your name, address, records requested and email address are public data. As with any public data, it can be shared, provided to anyone for any reason and also can be published publicly.
Can I make a public records request anonymously?
Yes, you can make a public data request without providing your name or any other identifying information. However, you will be required to provide an email address to submit a request. If you wish to remain anonymous, it is your responsibility to provide us with an email address that is not associated with your name. (Ex. [email protected]) Requiring an email address ensures our anonymous requests receive the same level of service provided to requesters who voluntarily provide optional contact information, such as their name, company name, or mailing address.
Are there special instructions for requesting emails?
Yes, University policy and procedures detail that requests to search emails must be submitted on an individual email account basis. In order to process your request, please include:
- The name of the current University employee whose emails you are seeking. Please file a new request for each individual you are seeking emails from. The University is unable to search emails on a University-wide basis.
- A date range for emails.
- Information about the specific topic/keywords or issue you are requesting.
Since emails can contain government data that is protected by state and federal law as well as personal emails, every email will be reviewed for private data. Given our legal obligation to protect private data, requests for emails are the most complex and time-consuming requests we process.
Requests for emails are complex and time-consuming because emails can contain a wide range of data. The University can only release email data that are not prohibited from disclosure by a state or federal law. As a result, we must review every single email before releasing them to you.
Can I request medical records through the Open Records Office?
No, for requests regarding HIPAA and medical records contact Goddard Health Center.
https://www.ou.edu/healthservices/contact
What information about an employee is considered public?
Under state law, the following information about an employee may be released:
- Name
- Date of original employment or appointment
- Current position
- Title
- Current salary
- Date and amount of each increase or decrease in salary
- Date and type of each promotion, demotion, transfer, suspension, separation, or other change in position classification at the University
- Any final disciplinary action resulting in loss of pay, suspension, demotion of position, or termination
- Office to which the employee is currently assigned
How can I verify employment and income of an employee of the University of Oklahoma?
The University of Oklahoma uses Experian Verify to provide automated employment and income verification for our employees. Information for businesses and organizations seeking to verify employment and income, verifiers - OU Human Resources.
I’m an employee of the University of Oklahoma. Am I responsible for maintaining my own public records?
Yes, each employee is responsible for following the University’s General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule.
The key principles to remember are deletion, retention, and prevention.
Employees should:
- Delete transitory emails right away, so they don’t crowd your inbox;
- Dump deleted files at the end of each day, like taking out the trash;
- Be organized. Use folders to organize items that would be considered public records;
- Make sure at least one other person in your office has access to the folders you control and knows what’s in them just in case;
- When sorting digital or paper public records, label them with a to be destroyed date based on the General Records Schedule; and
- Try to keep file storage simple.
Other Sources of Information
Athletics
Utilizing the search function on the top of the website, can, assist in locating information on OU athletics programs
University of Oklahoma - Official Athletics Website (soonersports.com)
Student-Athlete Handbook 2020-2021
2020-21 OU Student-Athlete Handbook (PDF) - University of Oklahoma (soonersports.com)
Name, Image, Likeness
Name, Image & Likeness - University of Oklahoma (soonersports.com)
Academic Records
OU transcript requests, electronic transcript questions/troubleshooting, incomplete grades, grade changes, and repeats/reprieves.
Contact Academic Records at:
(405) 325-4147
Student Information Requests
Office of the Registrar
Release of Information (ou.edu)
Students can grant access to their OU records in these ways:
- Below are the OU forms that must be completed in order to give access to a third party. The first four forms listed are the most common forms needed while the remaining forms are college/department specific. Authorizations for release of information on an on-going basis will remain valid for one year following the student’s last enrollment at the University of Oklahoma or until canceled in writing by the student at any time.
- a. Student Permission to Release Education Record Information Form
- b. Concurrent High School Student Permission to Release Education Record Information Form
- Students can consent to the release of documents associated with a record of an admonition or violation of the Academic Integrity Code filed with the Office of Academic Integrity Programs through that office’s Request for Release of Information Form (PDF).
- Students can provide consent to the disclosure of educational records maintained by the Student Affairs Student Conduct Office through that office’s Authorization of Release of Information Form (PDF)
- Students can authorize access to their Bursar account through one.ou.edu.
- Students in University College can provide consent to the disclosure of their academic standing through that College’s FERPA Release Form.
- Students in Price College of Business can authorize the release of confidential information through that College’s Student Release of Student Records Form.
- Students living in University Housing can provide consent for Housing to disclose protected student information by completing the release section of the Housing contract.
- HIPAA release form.
Financial Information
- Payment Card Transactions gives an exhaustive list of all the items that an authorized list of state purchasers have made using the Oklahoma's purchase cards, commonly referred to as P-cards. You can think of this list like the state's itemized credit card bill. The report allows you to view and filter by the description of the purchased item, the merchant it was purchased from, and the name of the purchasing cardholder, among others. For more information about the state's P-cards, click here.
- Payroll Transactions is a list of all the paychecks that the state cuts to its employees. This primarily consists of regular salary and wage payments, but also includes overtime pay and less common payments like incentive bonuses or severance payouts. Each transaction shows the paid amount, number of hours logged, type of pay, paying agency, and the payee's abbreviated name (last name, first/middle initial). For more information, click here.
- Vendor Payments is a log of payments that the state has made to its numerous vendors. The report shows which vendors were paid, how much, who paid them, and includes a brief description of the goods or services provided. All vendor payment transactions also include state accounting codes which indicate information like the fund from which a vendor was paid, the type of expense (e.g., technical consulting vs. legal services), or associated state program. For more information, click here.
Oklahoma / Payment Card Transactions (opengov.com)
Oklahoma / Payroll Transactions (opengov.com)
Oklahoma / Vendor Transactions (opengov.com)
Oklahoma / General Ledger Annual Summary (opengov.com)
Oklahoma / Agency Expenses (opengov.com)
Procurement
RFP’s – Our office requires the specific RFP# related to the project to process these types of requests. You will need to provide an RFP# associated with your request. If you do not have the RFP#, please reach out to our Purchasing department directly at 405-325-2811 or [email protected]
Contracts
Contracts (ou.edu) (Requires secure login)
Police Department
Police Reports – When requesting a police report, you will need to provide a case# or your DOB, Last 4 of SSN: and the location of the incident.
OU-Norman
Daily Media Log
Select Agency - Zip Code 73069 - OK - Oklahoma University Police
OUHSCPD
Open Records Request (ouhsc.edu)
Institutional Data
The Office of Institutional Research & Reporting supports the University’s mission by using official and normative reporting standards to provide accurate and clearly-defined information about the University of Oklahoma to a variety of stakeholders; monitoring, documenting, and disseminating standard data definitions; and building campus understanding of responsible data use.
Institutional Research & Reporting (ou.edu)
Institutional Data - Enrollment
Enrollment Statistics (ou.edu)
Institutional Data - Diversity
Institutional Data - Graduation Rates