Neat trick. Now go screw yourself...

The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is perhaps one of the best and strongest tools that citizens (note I didn’t just say media) have in holding public boards, organizations and institutions accountable. It provides access to meeting minutes, public votes and hundreds of other documents that allow us to feel at least a little bit better about how things work, especially as they apply to the government.

Over the years, I’ve never ceased to be amazed at the lengths to which people will go to try to dodge their responsibilities under this act. I’ve seen people reject requests for all sorts of spurious reasons, including minor typographical errors, “confusion” regarding the specificity of the request and the ever popular “this request is overly broad.” There are also much broader and innovative dodges as well. For example, during the 2008 presidential campaign news came out about Sarah Palin’s “shadow email” system in which her public account was almost untouched while business was conducted on private carriers so that FOIA couldn’t touch the governmental emails.

While none of this surprises me, I have to say that the folks in Milwaukee have outdone almost everyone in the fight to keep your nose out of their business.

According to a Student Press Law Center release, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has declared that any document that identifies a student, even the recording of a student’s voice speaking at a public meeting, qualifies as a confidential record. Thus, they claim, these materials are not public record and are protected under FERPA (a.k.a. The Buckley Amendment). This declaration came after the Post, the UWM student newspaper, had made FOIA requests regarding things such as the names of college employees who sit on student disciplinary panels and travel records for student government officials who took trips at taxpayer expense.

The purpose of FERPA is to protect students’ rights in regard to personal information that they garner throughout their education. The act was initially used to guarantee that students could look at and use their own records as they saw fit. In short, it granted conservatorship over the students’ records to those students, as opposed to the institution. Most schools have a list of directory style information that they are allowed to release without student approval, but things such as student grades have been viewed as off limits. However, FERPA does allow the disclosure of information to parents regarding alcohol or controlled substance violations found at the school, even if the student is not a dependent. FERPA also allows for the disclosure of information in various other ways, including the provision of material to organizations conducing studies for the disclosing institution for things such as test creation or student aid programs.  In short, this isn’t an iron-clad law that prevents any material from ever being released about any student ever.

What is also clear from this act is that the act is about educational records, as opposed to public records. Students are not shielded from having their names on a police blotter if the university police arrest them during a protest or for illegal substance abuse. Students who seek to serve on a public board, such as a city council or county commission, are not granted carte blanche anonymity because of their collegiate status.

Over the years, students have fought for the right to be represented in organizations and on boards that tend to directly effect them. Madison, for example, was debating the merits of adding a student to its Alcohol License Review Commission. The UW system has two student regents on its board to help shape polices for the campuses around the state. If UWM’s argument were to be taken to it’s most extreme conclusion, none of these things would qualify as public meetings any more because of the mere presence of a student. Worse yet, it would behoove any and all organizations that sought to hide from FOIA requests to add collegiate members and then shield themselves with the Buckley Amendment.

The student journalists, with the help of the SPLC, have filed suit in Wisconsin to help slap some sense into UWM and there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll win this one, presuming common sense prevails. However, the bigger issue appears to be this: If you are doing things you don’t want people to know about, and you are a public institution of any kind, stop doing them. Trying to stifle the media only makes it look like you’ve got more to hide.

So, please, stop pitting one important set of interests (student representation) against another (people’s right to know) in hopes that they’ll tear each other apart and you’ll win. It’s a neat trick but in the end it confirms for all of us that you are the assholes we thought you were.

Comments

[mdh]

Sounds like the work of Helicopter parents, still protecting their young from the reality of a society of equals.

[MapleStreet]

Wow! As much as my school is going crazy to be sure not to step on FERPA, Uof Wis takes the cake.

[pansypoo]

pof course in the era of internets technology, the concept of privacy is tenuous at best.

[Aaaargh]

OTOH, I have seen plenty of overly broad Open Records requests coming in: "All emails to and from the Department of Natural Resources." Where the hell do you begin with something like that? Usually you can narrow it down but not always.

[Eli]

"'All emails to and from the Department of Natural Resources.' Where the hell do you begin with something like that?"

On any mail server that stores copies of mail centrally, that seems to me much easier to fulfill than any more narrow request. Why is it difficult?