Official information about present or former members of the Faculty is maintained by the Dean of the Faculty. Such information is considered to be confidential. Confidential evaluations and private information should not be released in their original form under any circumstances. All requests for information about a present or former Faculty member addressed to members of the College Faculty or administration or student body should be referred to the Dean of the Faculty, except when the person receiving the request has been requested to release information about a Faculty member by the member himself/herself.

Persons answering requests for information about members of the Faculty should follow the same principles which pertain to the confidentiality of student records.

(See the Trinity College Handbook for a complete statement of College policy on the confidentiality of student records.) A further statement was adopted by the Faculty at its meeting on May 9, 1972:

Under no circumstances, except where authorized by the parties involved, will confidential and personal information concerning Faculty records, employment status, departmental, committee or administrative recommendations, be made public. Where release of such confidential or personal information will constitute a breach of academic freedom it shall not be released even if consented to by the parties involved.

Since January 1, 1981, the accessibility of personnel files to employees has been governed by Connecticut Public Act No. 80-158. In a letter of 11/24/82 to the Faculty, President English indicated the following:

In general Public Act 80-158 says that employees are entitled to see their files on reasonable request. As "files" are defined, they include performance evaluations by supervisors, but not letters of recommendation by third parties. Within the context of our appointments and promotions procedures, it seems clear that candidates are now entitled to see the letters written to the Appointments and Promotions Committee by their department chairs, but not letters from external referees.

It is not entirely clear whether, under the statute, letters from students and Faculty colleagues within the College are also accessible. Outside counsel has informed us that it would be reasonable to treat these internal letters as confidential, and we shall continue to do so. The Faculty should be aware, however, that this is a relatively new and somewhat ambiguous statute, and a court may someday interpret it otherwise.