Editors go to court

OHIO — After months of negotiations with the university, two editors from the Miami University of Ohio student newspaper filed suit against the school July 9 after the administration refused to release campus judicial records.Jennifer Markiewicz, a former editor of The Miami Student, and Emily Herbert, the current editor, have claimed the university’s refusal of information is a violation of the Ohio Public Records Act.In the spring of 1995, Markiewicz began to track crimes on campus, beginning with arrests and ending with decisions by the university judicial system. She planned to use the information for a crime database for the newspaper. She asked the university for crime information with all of the names deleted.School administrators refused to release the judicial records she asked for, claiming they did not want to violate the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which prohibits the disclosure of student’s education records.The newspaper has maintained that FERPA does not cover criminal activity and that they are entitled to the requested information under Ohio law.