USU PUBLIC RELATIONS - Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) carried out a Records Reduction and Destruction activity within the USU environment on Wednesday (4/2/2026) at the USU Archives Office Building. This activity involved representatives from 26 work units, records managers, and was witnessed by internal supervisory elements and the Directorate of Legal Affairs and Organization as part of the accountability process.

The Secretary of USU, Prof. Dr. dr. Muhammad Fidel Ganis Siregar, M.Ked(OG), Sp.O.G., Subsp.F.E.R., stated that records destruction is an important part of good university governance.

He emphasized that records management, including their destruction, is a mandate of the law that must be carried out in an orderly, systematic, and responsible manner in order to protect the institution from potential misuse of information.

“The destruction of these records is carried out through clear stages, starting from appraisal, committee consideration, determination of proposed records for destruction, to the implementation of destruction. All of this is conducted in accordance with Law Number 43 of 2009 concerning Archives and its implementing regulations,” said Prof. Fidel.

The Head of the USU Archives Office, Dr. Aisyah, SE., M.Si., explained that the records destroyed were those that had exceeded their retention period and no longer had use value, with the determination fully referring to the Records Retention Schedule (JRA).

“The destruction of these records is not only about storage space efficiency, but also a form of protection for information security. Records that have been declared to have no further use value must be destroyed according to procedures, using shredding equipment, so that the information contained in them is permanently eliminated,” explained Dr. Aisyah.

The records originated from the period 1947 to 2016 with a total of 1,216 files. However, after undergoing a verification process, five records had their destruction postponed because they were still related to legal proceedings, so the number of records destroyed amounted to 1,211 files packaged in 32 boxes.

Dr. Aisyah also reminded that records destruction must be carried out in accordance with procedures. Violations of archival regulations may be subject to criminal sanctions of up to 10 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp500 million.

On that occasion, Dr. Aisyah also conveyed that the USU Archives Office received an award from the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) as one of the best archives offices in Indonesia in 2025. According to her, this achievement cannot be separated from the support and commitment of all records managers within the USU environment.