UWM Student Paper Sues University for Records
From Sunshine Review
[edit] November 12, 2009
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Milwaukee, WI On Wednesday, November 11, 2009, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee student newspaper filed a lawsuit in district court, alleging that the University's redaction of student names from Union Policy Board meeting minutes and audio files constituted a violation of the Wisconsin Open Records Law. The newspaper had requested all the agenda's, meeting minutes and audio recordings of the meetings back to August 1, 2008. The University released all of the requested documents, but heavily redacted the information to remove student information which, they argue, is exempt under Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA). The newspaper seeks the full documents and legal fees [1]
[edit] Update:University settles case
[edit] February 16, 2010
The University and the UWM post arrived at a settlement last week, with the University agreeing to release the records in their entirety and award $11,764.65 to cover the papers legal fees. Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, commented on the case, stating, "This is a step forward, but journalists can’t be expected to ‘sue common sense into’ every college in America. We still desperately need Congress to clarify that FERPA applies only to legitimately confidential academic information, as its sponsors understood and intended." [2]
[edit] AG opinion
On Thursday, December 17 the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office issued an opinion stating that the student government bodies at the University of Wisconsin are subject to the state open records and open meetings laws. [3] Click on the link to read the request or the official opinion.
[edit] The records in question
The request for the records was submitted by former UWM Post Editor in Chief, Jon Anderson, on January 8, after he discovered that the Union Policy Board began discussing the allocation of office spaces to student clubs, one of the boards key functions, during meetings the newspaper had not attended.[1] The records in question were delivered, but severely redacted. Anderson stated that this was not the first time the newspapers had run into problems with the Universities decision to employ the FERPA to redact student names [4]. Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, elaborated on this, telling the press that the Student Press Law Center had been monitoring the University's use of FERPA for sometime and claiming that this particular case was "certainly one of the most flagrant misuses of privacy laws" because it represented an attempt "to withhold documents that don't have anything to do with privacy" [1].
[edit] Arguments in the case
[edit] The Newspaper
The newspaper argues that the federal act in question only applies to educational records and that the board does not function in an educational context and the law does not apply to them. The newspaper also argues that because the meetings in question were meetings open to the public by law, the board does not have the right to redact the minutes.
[edit] The University
The University claims the FERPA act requires them to redact all student information, unless the students grant permission for its release.
[edit] Related court cases
While the FERPA has become a popular tool for schools to block access to records, a number of court cases have sprung up about the FERPA and its application to student records which attempt to regulate its use. The courts in New York have established the importance of the FERPA in Kryston v. Board of Education, East Ramapo School District, where they ruled that student test scores could only be released with the removal of names and the scrambling of the order in which the scores appear. The North Dakota attorney general has also recently ruled that the University of North Dakota cannot hide records using the FERPA. In another opposing case, Indianapolis Star v. Trustees of Indiana University, the Indiana Court of Appeals held that any student information contained in the investigations of Coach Bobby Knight's misbehavior were exempt under the federal act. The court however felt that all non-student information should be released. Finally, many states have exemptions for all student information, separate from Federal legislation that protects student information.
While Wisconsin has not ruled on the application of FERPA, it, like most states, has an exemption for all records that fall under Federal exemption. Statute 19:36(1) of the Wisconsin Open Records Law states:(1) Application of other laws. Any record which is specifically exempted from disclosure by state or federal law or authorized to be exempted from disclosure by state law is exempt from disclosure under s. 19.35 (1), except that any portion of that record which contains public information is open to public inspection as provided in sub. (6)[5]
Wisconsin courts, in Wisconsin Newspress, Inc. v. School District of Sheboygan Falls and Hempel v. City of Baraboo, have also established that exemptions for personal information, like the exemption in question, can be overridden in light of high public interest. These are factors that the Wisconsin courts must consider when they look to this case in the coming months.
[edit] See also
[edit] External Links
- UWM Post, "Post, UWM reach settlement in records lawsuit"
- [Student Press Law Center, "Wisc. student newspaper awarded settlement in public records lawsuit"</ref>
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "UWM paper sues school for records"
- Badger Herald, "Student paper sues UW-Milwaukee"
[edit] References
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "UWM paper sues school for records"
- ↑ UWM Post, "Post, UWM reach settlement in records lawsuit"
- ↑ Greenbay Press Gazette, "AG: UW groups bound by law"
- ↑ Badger Herald, "Student paper sues UW-Milwaukee"
- ↑ Wisconsin Code 19:36
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