Ohio’s Supreme Court has ruled that under the law, "public records are the people’s records, and the officials in whose custody they happen to be are merely trustees for the people….” (Patterson v. Ayers, 171 Ohio St. 369 (1960)) At Ohio State, we hold public records in trust for the people we serve.
Providing prompt access to the public records we create and receive in the course of our work is a fundamental compliance responsibility. To ensure that all University employees are appropriately educated about our obligations under the law, the University has adopted a public records policy to guide employees about how to respond to the public records requests they receive.