FOI FYI : That time of year again: University student government meeting violations

That time of year again: University student government meeting violations

Every fall when a new crop of student leaders start meeting at universities we run into violations of open meeting laws, usually out of ignorance not arrogance, and it's up to student journalists to help educate student leaders to the law. The Daily Campus at the University of Connecticut reported meeting violations by the student government board, and the student leaders acknowledged they were unaware of the law and will follow the law in the future. Sometimes that's all it takes.

A tip for writing about these issues: Posted online comments in response to The Daily Campus' story attacked the newspaper for the story, saying it is unethical for the newspaper to say the student body violated the state open meeting law. Who are a bunch of student journalists to say they broke the law? That's a good point. When writing about these violations, a quick call to FOI experts in the state or nationally will help by verifying that they did indeed break the law and provide authoritative sourcing. Get FOI experts in your phone directory. Some possibilities (see more thoughts in my FOI Toolbox column in the June/July Quill magazine, p. 63):

• Coalitions for open government in your state (see national listing at the National Freedom of Information Coalition, http://www.nfoic.org/membership/members.html (e.g., Connecticut Foundation for Open Government).
  
• A state public records ombudsman or FOI commission. About half the states have some sort of FOI mediation outlet, either in attorney general offices or separately. Connecticut happens to have its own FOI Commission (http://www.state.ct.us/foi/) to mediate disputes.
  
• State press associations know these issues well, http://www.shgresources.com/resources/newspapers/associations/
  
  
• SPJ Sunshine Chair in your state (http://www.spj.org/sunshine-chairs.asp), or SPJ FOI Committee members, or I would be happy to comment (cuillier@email.arizona.edu, 520-626-9694).
  
• Student Press Law Center has lawyers on staff to answer questions.
  
• Call your local newspaper and ask who their attorney is. Contact that attorney, who is likely to be an expert in this area. The attorney won't provide legal advice, but many are more than happy to give their expert opinion for a story.
  
• Find who at your university or another university in the state is an expert in these areas. Often there is a journalism prof who teaches media law who can speak to the issue.
  
• Find someone at the state association for cities or counties who knows the issue well. Then it isn't a "media" expert saying the government screwed up. It's a government expert saying the government screwed up.
  

 
 

Published Friday, August 29, 2008 11:55 AM by DavidCuillier

 
 

Inserted from <http://spj.org/blog/blogs/foifyi/archive/2008/08/29/21403.aspx>