Colorado Revised Statutes (Title 24, Article 80) require public institutions to preserve records of permanent significance and to appropriately dispose of records that no longer have administrative, legal, fiscal, or historical value.
As a public institution, Fort Lewis College and its employees share responsibility for ensuring that records are created, maintained, and disposed of in accordance with state law and College policy. Effective records management supports institutional accountability, protects the rights and interests of students, employees, and the institution, preserves the College's history, and helps ensure compliance with audits, litigation requirements, accreditation activities, and public records requests.
This responsibility includes:
- Retaining records for the appropriate period of time according to approved records retention schedules.
- Protecting records from damage, loss, unauthorized access, or premature destruction.
- Maintaining records in an organized manner so they can be located, retrieved, and understood when needed.
- Providing records when required for litigation, audits, accreditation activities, or requests made under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).
- Disposing of records appropriately once their retention period has expired and destruction has been authorized in accordance with College policy and applicable laws.
Records management responsibilities apply to records in all formats, including paper records, email, electronic documents, databases, photographs, audio and video recordings, and other digital content.