Lawsuit against UWM valid
Spectator Staff
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
The UW-Milwaukee's student newspaper, The UWM Post, is showing incredible courage for suing the university for its failure to comply with open records requests.
The decision, we feel, is a valid way to keep the university honest and ensure the rights of student journalists, not to mention to make sure the entire student body is informed.
The Post requested records in January that had been withheld since August of 2008. The Post's editor in chief at the time requested the records because of suspicion that the university Union Policy Board had discussed the allocation of office space for student organizations in the fall when reporters weren't present instead of the spring, when it usually does.
UWM claims that it has the right to retract its minutes and audio recording to protect the privacy of the Union Policy Board's nine student members under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, also known as the Buckley Amendment.
UWM has been watched for a while on the issue and seems to be the only school in the UW system that uses the Buckley Amendment as a way to keep information from it students, but it is still unclear as to why the school does so.
There doesn't seem to be any actual reason for the university's actions, and it is unfortunate that it would waste the time and effort to withhold the records in the first place and now potentially go to court with a student newspaper over such a matter such as office space allocation.
It's also strange that the university would take the chance for such bad publicity.
The fact is students on various boards at universities represent the opinions of other students. They have thus become temporary officials and, in a way, forfeit some of the privacy that an average student might enjoy. UWM needs to realize this and allow their student body to be well informed about the decisions of their representatives.
We would like to commend the UWM Post for not letting administration push them around and taking a stand for what they are entitled to. A victory for the Post will be a victory for journalists on every level and a victory for the freedom of information.
The decision, we feel, is a valid way to keep the university honest and ensure the rights of student journalists, not to mention to make sure the entire student body is informed.
The Post requested records in January that had been withheld since August of 2008. The Post's editor in chief at the time requested the records because of suspicion that the university Union Policy Board had discussed the allocation of office space for student organizations in the fall when reporters weren't present instead of the spring, when it usually does.
UWM claims that it has the right to retract its minutes and audio recording to protect the privacy of the Union Policy Board's nine student members under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, also known as the Buckley Amendment.
UWM has been watched for a while on the issue and seems to be the only school in the UW system that uses the Buckley Amendment as a way to keep information from it students, but it is still unclear as to why the school does so.
There doesn't seem to be any actual reason for the university's actions, and it is unfortunate that it would waste the time and effort to withhold the records in the first place and now potentially go to court with a student newspaper over such a matter such as office space allocation.
It's also strange that the university would take the chance for such bad publicity.
The fact is students on various boards at universities represent the opinions of other students. They have thus become temporary officials and, in a way, forfeit some of the privacy that an average student might enjoy. UWM needs to realize this and allow their student body to be well informed about the decisions of their representatives.
We would like to commend the UWM Post for not letting administration push them around and taking a stand for what they are entitled to. A victory for the Post will be a victory for journalists on every level and a victory for the freedom of information.
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