Cornell University, a private university, is generally not subject to state or federal laws governing access to the records of public agencies. Cornell does operate or support several programs at the request of the State of New York, including the contract colleges located in Ithaca (i.e., Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University College of Human Ecology, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations) and the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station located in Geneva. Cornell operates these programs independently and is not regarded as a state agency. However, to the extent that Cornell is accountable to the State for the use of public funds, it does respond to requests under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) for access to Cornell’s reports to the State.
Many resources regarding the mission and operations of Cornell University are available to the public on Cornell’s many college and program websites. Further inquiries that might fall within Cornell’s limited obligation to respond to FOIL requests can be emailed to the following address for review and response: publicrecords@cornell.edu.
Thank you for your interest in the important work happening at Cornell.