TEXAS — A lawsuit against the Texas Attorney Generalchallenging his ruling that a university release security camera information wasdismissed Feb. 27.District Court Judge Paul R. Davis Jr. granted arequest for summary judgement from Attorney General Greg Abbott, which ended thesuit against him. The University of Texas at Austin and the University of TexasSystem filed suit against Abbott on Jan. 15 after he ruled that the universitymust disclose files about security cameras that the UT-Austin student newspaper,The Daily Texan, had requested.”We’re pleased the court hasrecognized that the UT-System doesn’t have a legal basis for withholding theinformation they were asked to release,” Abbott said. “I look forward to seeingthis case resolved so that the school newspaper and the public can finally getthe information they deserve.”In October, The Daily Texan filed afreedom of information request with the university, asking for the location,cost and specifications of security cameras on campus. The university refusedand promptly referred the matter to the attorney general. Abbott ruled that thefiles were not exempt from the Texas Public Information Act, after which theuniversity filed suit.”We were very pleased with the judge’s ruling inthe case,” Daily Texan Managing Editor Ryan Pittman said. “We felt allalong that what we requested was public, or it should be public.”Theuniversity has 30 days to appeal the decision or hand over therecords.On Feb. 28 the University of Texas again filed suit against theattorney general after he ruled that files provided to the Centers for DiseaseControl on biological and chemical agents, on which the university doesresearch, should be released to The Daily Texan.
Read previous coverage
- Univ. of Texas sues Attorney General to dispute disclosure of security cameras News Flash, 1/27/2003