Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act provides public access to government documents and records.   As a public body, Illinois State University is required to comply with the Act. The Act requires that records, regardless of physical form, possessed by or under the control of any public body be made accessible to anyone who wishes to see them, except otherwise provided in the Act.

Who to contact?

The Director of Media Relations is the Public Records Officer for Illinois State University.  All requests for access to information under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act must be forwarded to the Public Records Officer at:

Jay Groves, jrgrove@ilstu.edu
Director of Media Relations
Campus Box 1000
Normal, IL
61790-1000 

Or by e-mail to:
PublicRecords@IllinoisState.edu

Charges

Any responsive documents may be viewed at a pre-arranged time on campus without charge, or a copy may be obtained for a minimal charge for photocopying (not to exceed $.15/page, no charge for the first 50 black and white copies).  If the copies are in color or in a size other than letter or legal, the charge will be the actual cost for reproducing the records.  If the documents are to be sent by United States mail, there will be a charge for reimbursement of postage costs. The Public Records Officer may request pre-payment before printed copies of records are provided in response to a request.

Charges for Commercial Requests

In addition to the charges outlined above, the charge for responding to commercial requests will include a charge of $10 per hour spent by personnel in searching for and retrieving the record(s), for any hours in addition of the first eight (8).

After Your Request is Made

The Public Records Officer will respond to the requestor within five (5) working days , by providing documents, denying the request, or extending the deadline in accordance of the Act. The response will be in the form of a letter or e-mail. The Public Records Officer will respond to commercial within 21 working days after receipt of the request.  The response will

1. provide the requester an estimate of the time required to comply and an estimate of the fees; 
2. deny the request if the record(s) requested is/are exempt from disclosure; 
3. provide the records requested; or 
4. inform the requester the request is unduly burdensome and ask the requester if he/she wants to reduce the request to manageable proportions.  (It is a violation of the Act for a person to knowingly obtain a public record for a commercial purpose without disclosing it as such.)