Master of Business Administration (Financial Services)

Mr. John HopeDalhousie FOIPOP CoordinatorRoom 225, Henry Hicks Academic Administration BuildingStudley Campus, 6299 South StreetHalifax, N.S. B3H 4H6Phone (902) 494-2184John.Hope@Dal.caThere are some aspects of the FOIPOP Act that might require the university or departments toreconsider the manner in which they create, handle, store or dispose of records and the use towhich they are made. Units are encouraged to consider implementing a comprehensive recordsmanagement policy which deals with the creation, access and retention or disposal of records inorder to make better use of available space and to ensure that only necessary and/or appropriaterecords are retained. Contact the University FOIPOP Coordinator for further information.Personal informationBecause of the prohibition in the Act concerning the collection, use and disclosure of personalinformation except in specified circumstances, some practices such as the posting of grades in amanner which identifies a student will have to be changed. Additionally references for studentsmay not be able to be made without the written consent of the student. University personnel areencouraged to become familiar with the Act and to direct their inquiries to or discuss any possibleconcerns regarding their practices with the FOIPOP Coordinator.The FOIPOP Act contains section 24(4) which requires the University to retain for one year anypersonal information concerning an individual which has been used "to make a decision thatdirectly affects the individual". This will affect the manner in which the university handles certainrecords that are used to make decisions and units will have to determine whether they haverecords which must be retained for this required one year period.Since any record under the custody or control of the University is potentially accessible under theAct, university members should be aware that any record they create may be read or disclosed toothers in accordance with the Act. Although some records are subject to exemption fromdisclosure, the fact that someone may be embarrassed by the disclosure is not grounds for avalid non-disclosure of the record. Thus it is important to have an appropriate recordsmanagement policy in place to ensure that only permanent records are maintained. The Act does325