Understanding & Identifying Private and Public Information

The University collects and maintains a variety of information, including information about its students, faculty, staff and others. This information is collected in order to conduct University business. Information is classified as private or public based on federal and state law.

Private information can only be released to the subject of the information and to those within the university who have a legitimate need-to-know, outside entities with the subject's written permission, and others as allowed by law. Some private information, like protected health information (PHI) and electronic PHI, is protected by law.

Public information is available to anyone who requests it, except in the case of student data, when the student has requested that no public information about him/her be released without express written permission.

The Privacy and Data Security Guide identifies departmental contacts to assist you with maintaining the privacy and security of information.

Private Information

Public Information

The following is a compiled list of private information from various University sources. For specific private information lists, see the "More Information" section below.

Employee Information

• Social security number
• Birth date
• Home phone number
• Home address
• Health records
• Passwords
• Parking leases
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Citizenship
• Citizen visa code
• Veteran and disability status

Non-directory Student Information
May not be released except under certain prescribed conditions. Non-releasable information includes:

• Grades
• Courses taken
• Schedule
• Test scores
• Advising records
• Educational services received
• Disciplinary actions
• Student ID

Protected Patient Health & Research Identifiers

• Name
• All geographic subdivisions smaller than a state (street address, city, county, precinct) Note: zip code or equivalents must be removed, but can retain first 3 digits if the geographic unit to which the zip code applies if the zip code area contains more than 20,000 people.
• For dates directly related to the individual, all elements of dates, except year (date of birth, admission date, discharge date, date of death).
• All ages over 89 or dates indicating such an age, except that you may have an aggregate category of individuals 90 and older.
• Telephone number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Social security number
• Medical record number
• Health plan number
• Account numbers
• Certificate or license numbers
• Vehicle identification/serial numbers, including license plate numbers
• Device identification/serial numbers
• Universal resource locators
• Internet protocol addresses
• Biometric identifiers
• Full face photographs and comparable images
• Any other unique identifying number, characteristic or code.

Financial/ Credit Cards

• Any information obtained during the offering or delivery of a financial product or service that is identifiable to an individual such as:
• Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Account balances
• ACH numbers
• Bank account numbers
• Credit card numbers
• Credit rating
• Location of birth
• Driver's license information
• Income history
• Payment history
• Tax return information
• Any information obtained during the processing of a credit card payment transaction that identifies individual consumers and their purchases, such as:
• Account number
• Expiration date
• Name
• Address
• Social security number

Other

• Legal investigations conducted by the University
• Sealed bids
• Trade secrets or intellectual property such as research activities
• Location of assets
• Linking a person with the specific subject about which the library user has requested information or materials.

The following information is available to the public. Review the Obtaining Public Information Policy for more detail.

Employee Information 

• Name
• Salary
• Gross pension
• Value and nature of fringe benefits
• Expense reimbursements
• Job titles
• Job description
• Education and training
• Previous work experience
• First and last employment
• Existence and status of complaints
• Terms of buy-out agreements
• Final disposition of disciplinary action
• Work location
• Work phone number
• Badge number
• Honors and awards received
• Payroll time sheets
• Employee ID
• University Email Address

Student Directory information
The following information is Public, unless the student has requested non-disclosure (suppress).

• Name
• Address
• Electronic (e-mail) address
• Telephone number
• Dates of enrollment
• Enrollment status (full/part time, not enrolled)
• Major
• Adviser
• College
• Class
• Academic awards and honors
• Degree received

Other

• Financial data on public sponsored projects
• Course offerings
• Invoices and purchase orders
• Budgets

For More Information

Public Access to University Information Policy

Examples of Public, Private, and Confidential Information

Protecting Private Data Standard

De-identifying Data for Research Proceedure