This opinion piece reflects the point of view of the writer. Cameren Boatner is a reporting intern for the Student Press Law Center. Students have a right to know when a crime occurs in their backyard – especially when the crime is sexual violence. But a law intended to protect victims is leaving the public… Continue reading Opinion: Marsy’s Law needs to be amended to keep the public better informed on crime
Tag: transparency
Q&A: Appalachian editor calls for open chancellor search in front-page editorial
It's no secret that college and university presidential searches are, increasingly, cloaked in secrecy until after a final decision is made.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: This school year, let’s resolve to fix FERPA — by “breaking” it
At the University of Oklahoma, if you ask for the chance to inspect your own education records, the university knows just what to do.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: “Personal privacy” exception to open-records access can’t be allowed to swallow the rule
Government obfuscation in the face of requests for public records can be irritating. At times, maddening.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Taking stock of where legislatures broadened — and narrowed — public access laws in 2013
Summertime means most state legislatures have called it quits for the year, which means it's timely to assess where the public's right of access to meetings and records has advanced and where it has declined.Here are a few examples of newly enacted changes in state open-government laws that journalists should be aware of.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: A century-old murder mystery provokes a modern legal battle over access to medical records
A century ago, a crusading Connecticut newspaper editor helped bring to justice the murderous owner of an old-age home, relying on death certificates that showed boarders at the facility had a suspicious habit of dying from poison.The story of Amy Archer Gilligan -- who died in a state mental hospital in 1962, having been incarcerated 43 years for murder -- inspired the (exceedingly) dark comedy play and film, "Arsenic and Old Lace."And now, it has inspired something more: A sensible ruling that harmonizes state freedom-of-information law with federal health-care privacy law.Privacy laws are widely mis-cited to obstruct journalists' access to public records, and none more flagrantly so than HIPAA, the federal health care privacy statute.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: “Privatized” government functions are putting the public’s records behind corporate barricades
Records created, held or used by state agencies are (with limited exceptions) supposed to be readily available for the public to inspect, and that includes the records of public schools and colleges.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: When colleges go into “crisis P.R. mode,” it’s time to go into “records request mode”
When there's an emergency on campus, who does the college's president call? The chair of the board of trustees?
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: If U.S. News college rankings aren’t reliable, then why not make your own?
Discredited and disliked, but undeniably influential, the annual college ratings from U.S. News and World Report are in the midst of being compiled.The rankings persist because... well, because people love rankings.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: It’s easier than ever to find out what private colleges, foundations and athletic associations are spending
The way that the IRS regulates nonprofit organizations is much in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. These headlines are a reminder that any nonprofit organization -- including a private college -- must make extensive disclosures to the IRS that are a matter of public record.A must-have document for anyone doing research on a private university, or the privately incorporated arm of a public university such as a foundation, is the annual IRS Form 990.