CORA and Privacy
Dear Faculty Relations: Is it really true that the Colorado Open Records Act allows anyone to look at my emails? What about my right to privacy? Should my department use an encrypted app to communicate? —Worried About Records
Dear Worried: The Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) is our state’s sunshine law that allows the public to view the work-related records of public entities. And yes, this does include emails!
That said, it’s easiest to think about CORA in terms of what type of information is public rather than the medium in which the record is kept. In truth, the form of the record ( work or personal email, chat, text, recorded video) doesn’t matter. What matters is that, as public employees, most of our work-related communications are considered public. Even if you’re messaging a colleague via an encrypted app or using AI to help craft an email, that communication may be subject to CORA if it reflects Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØbusiness.
There are important exceptions such as student records (and your communications with your students) and purely private communication (such as emails or chats that do not reflect Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØbusiness. Another exception to public disclosure relates to intellectual property: the content you create as a part of your teaching curriculum or research program is typically your intellectual property and not subject to CORA.
For all of these reasons, it’s best to use official university channels of communication for university business. Doing so makes it less cumbersome to collect records when they are requested under CORA, and it makes it easier for us to redact anything that shouldn’t be released, like student information or your IP.
There are, of course, other exceptions to what is considered public under CORA. If you’re curious to learn more, we suggest some reading: describes CORA, for instance, and talks about the copyright of educational materials.
And finally, Worried, don’t sweat the details! You can always reach out to the with questions about CORA.
Written by Laura Portis, CORA Compliance Administrator, and Alex Loyd, Associate University Counsel, Office of University Counsel
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