Confidentiality Statements

Information for letter writers for candidates proposed for a UCSC appointment:

• Under University of California policy, the identity of authors of letters of evaluation which are included in the personnel review files will be held in confidence. A candidate may request access to your letter in redacted form after he/she accepts an offer of appointment at UCSC. Redaction is defined as the removal of identifying information (including name, title, institutional affiliation, and relationship to the candidate) contained either at the top of the letterhead or within and below the signature block of the letter of evaluation.
• The full text of the body of your letter will therefore be provided to the candidate if so requested. Thus, if you provide any information that tends to identify you in the body of the letter, that information will become available to the candidate. If you wish, you may provide a brief factual statement regarding your relationship to the candidate at the end of your letter but below the signature block. This brief statement will not be made available to the candidate.
• Although we cannot guarantee that at some future time a court or government agency will not require the disclosure of the source of confidential evaluations in University of California personnel files, we can assure you that the University will endeavor to protect the identity of authors of letters of evaluation to the fullest extent allowable under the law.
• In addition, individuals not selected for appointment may also request access to documents contained in their applications. As a public institution, the University of California is required to follow state and federal privacy policies, including access to documents contained in the application record. For further information on these state and federal regulations, please see information at the Privacy Policy link here.

Information for letter writers for candidates with current UCSC appointments:

• Under University of California policy, the identity of authors of letters of evaluation which are included in the personnel review files will be held in confidence. A candidate will, at certain prescribed stages of the academic personnel review process, be provided access to such letters in redacted form. Redaction is defined as the removal of identifying information (including name, title, institutional affiliation, and relationship to the candidate) contained either at the top of the letterhead or within and below the signature block of the letter of evaluation.
• The full text of the body of your letter will therefore be provided to the candidate. Thus, if you provide any information that tends to identify you in the body of the letter, that information will become available to the candidate. If you wish, you may provide a brief factual statement regarding your relationship to the candidate at the end of your letter, but below the signature block. This brief statement will not be made available to the candidate.
• Although we cannot guarantee that at some future time a court or governmental agency will not require the disclosure of the source of confidential evaluations in University of California personnel files, we can assure you that the University will endeavor to protect the identity of authors of letters of evaluation to the fullest extent allowable under the law.