New Mexico News
| UNM Records Plan Criticized |
| Posted by () on May 22 2008 at 12:40 PM |
A key faculty committee says a plan by University of New Mexico regents to make more records public is "ill-advised" and could lead to litigation.
UNM's Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee asked regents to table their proposed policy changes, which would say that all university records are public unless specifically exempted by law. Such things as employment applications and internal audit working papers would be treated as public records.
"We're just trying to make sure that UNM operates as fairly and openly, although it may seem like we're not open," committee Chairman Timothy Lowrey said. "We just want to make sure that all the policies make sense, and that there's not contradictions between policies."
The committee contends the changes could be inconsistent with the Faculty Handbook, possibly leading to litigation.
Jamie Koch, regents president, said the proposal would go before the board on Wednesday, and faculty members will have a chance to make their case then.
Koch, in a letter to faculty members Tuesday, noted that failing to revise the policies also could lead to damaging litigation.
"The Journal faults the university for its historical culture of secretiveness in certain areas, and has threatened to bring suit against the university to force compliance with all provisions of (the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act)," Koch wrote.
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government believes the proposal is "a very welcome step and effort by the university to comply with the Inspection of Public Records Act," said Chuck Peifer, a FOG board member and attorney for the Journal and FOG.
"I think if there is a discussion of this, it'll become apparent that the kinds of things (faculty) want to keep secret are the kinds of things which in the hands of a public body ought to be open to public inspection," he said. "
Among the faculty concerns:
The revamped policies don't include the state Supreme Court-recognized exemption for "countervailing public policy," or the legal argument that it is in the public interest to withhold some records even though they are not specifically exempted. Nothing would prevent disclosure of such things as scientific notes or manuscripts, the letter states.
Drafts of internal audits and working papers should not be public because they might contain unsubstantiated personally damaging and potentially libelous information.
"There should be as much information public as is legally allowed," Lowrey said. "That's certainly fine. But there are certain things that, in our opinion, you should not put in there that are based on hearsay or rumor or just unsubstantiated."
Koch said regents would consider changes to the proposal and that, in some instances, existing law covers the records they'd like shielded.
"I think most of their concerns are already covered both in the policy and in the statute," said Leonard DeLayo, executive director of the Foundation for Open Government.
Comments
Add Comment