On July 2, 2014, Amanda Albright submitted a public records request to UNC’s freshly created public records site. The site’s purpose was to “make it easy to request public records and to see how the University’s Public Records Office responds.”
They’re right, it is pretty easy to request public records. And it’s simple to find out how the University’s Public Records Office has responded.
What’s difficult, and completely unacceptable, is the fact that it is so difficult for the public to get a response on a public records request, especially if that request involves emails.
UNC is required by law to release public records. It is not enough to set up a website that makes it easy to submit a request if those records are never released. Every single week, the town of Chapel Hill releases town council members’ emails. Those emails are even searchable on their website.
Amanda Albright worked for The Daily Tar Heel as the director of projects and investigations, and she graduated nearly a year ago. Of Amanda’s 25 public records requests, 11 are “still pending.”
Last year Bradley Saacks was The Daily Tar Heel’s university editor. This year, he is our director of enterprise. He submitted his first public records request on July 14, 2014. That request is still pending, as are 10 of the 47 records he has requested during his time at the DTH.
Bradley graduates in 26 days.
They did fulfill one of his requests — Bradley requested the names of students convicted of sexual assault under the honor court and the sanctions levied against them. Our editor-in-chief at the time, Jennifer Surane, was willing to accept this data in aggregate, with the intention of informing students of their chances of success in these trials.
The University responded with some numbers on the outcome of sexual misconduct cases. But it would not release any further information, citing “federal and state privacy laws” — even though FERPA allows UNC to release the names of persons convicted of sexual assault. Students have a right to know these names.
