University affirmitive action compliance reports
| Submitted | Feb. 23, 2017 |
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Communications
From: Todd Feathers
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
1) Copies of the most recent affirmative action compliance reports, including Higher Education Staff Information Reports (EEO-6), filed by each college/university with the Board of Higher Education as required by 610 CMR 6.09 (http://www.mass.gov/courts/docs/lawlib/600-699cmr/610cmr6.pdf).
I ask that all fees be waived for this request as I am a journalist employed by the Lowell Sun and I intend to use the requested records to publish articles in the public interest and not for any commercial purposes.
I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Todd Feathers
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 23, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Wisneski, Ashley (RGT)
Dear Mr. Feathers,
Today is the 10th business day since we received your request, which is the deadline by which we must respond under the law. We are preparing our response and anticipate getting back to you later today.
Thank you,
Ashley
Ashley H. Wisneski, Esq.
Assistant General Counsel
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
(617) 994-6952
From: Wisneski, Ashley (RGT)
Dear Mr. Feathers,
Thank you for your recent public records request to the Department of Higher Education, in which you sought “copies of the most recent affirmative action compliance reports, including Higher Education Staff Information Reports (EEO-6), filed by each college/university with the Board of Higher Education as required by 610 CMR 6.09.”
As you noted in your request, 610 CMR 6.09 requires the biennial filing of an affirmative action compliance report, in the form prescribed by the BHE but which must include at the least a copy of the institution’s EEO-6 Form, as required by 29 CFR 1602.50. The EEO-6 Form was discontinued by the federal government in 1993. The data that institutions had been reporting using that form (which form would have been submitted to the Department pursuant to 610 CMR 6.09) was, from that point on, reported using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (“IPEDS”), a series of surveys administered by the U.S. Department of Education. IPEDS reporting is mandatory for all institutions that receive Title IV federal financial aid funds, which include all of the public institutions in Massachusetts. The IPEDS-S Fall Staff Survey<https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/surveys/2015/pdf/package_1_43.pdf> requires institutions to report annually on the demographics of their staff, including the gender and race/ethnicity of employees. The BHE has not prescribed any different form for the required affirmative action reports since the IPEDS-S Survey replaced the EEO-6 Form in 1993.
IPEDS data, including the data you seek, is available to the public at the IPEDS Data Center<https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/Home/UseTheData>. The Data Center provides several ways to access IPEDS data, and the overview modules<https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/InsidePages/UseTheData?pageid=58> are a great introduction on how to search for and use the data.
Please contact Katy Abel, our Associate Commissioner for External Affairs, at kabel@bhe.mass.edu<mailto:kabel@bhe.mass.edu> if you have any additional questions.
Thank you,
Ashley
Ashley H. Wisneski, Esq.
Assistant General Counsel
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
(617) 994-6952
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