In 1992, the University of California changed its confidentiality rules regarding letters from outside referees. A statement of those new confidentiality rules follows below.

Under University of California policy, the identity of authors of letters of evaluation, which are included in the personnel review file, will be held in confidence. A candidate may, upon request and 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 if so requested. Thus, if you provide any information that tends to identify you in the body of the letter, that information may 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 be subject to redaction and 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.

If, under these new rules, you wish to retain confidentiality, you should write the main body of the letter in such a way that your name, affiliation, and personal associations with the candidate are not revealed. Under the new confidentiality rules, the candidate for appointment/promotion is allowed to have a copy of a "redacted version" of your letter. 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. We hope that you will still feel free to give us an assessment of the candidate's research under these restrictions.

***Notice to letter writers***
Please indicate in your letter of reference cover page, either hard copy or email that you have reviewed the above University of California Statement of Confidentiality Rules.