Her View: UI seems to be keeping public in the dark about Phoenix deal

It is obvious the University of Idaho does not want to release some of the records involving the University of Phoenix purchase.

Recently, UI charged Idaho Education News $2,400 to comply with an Open Records Act request, which to many of us seems excessive, perhaps cost-prohibitive for the nonprofit news organization. This is not the first time it has happened; UI has a track record for high-dollar invoices for open records requests.

This leads to many questions, not the least of which is: “Why?”

To be clear, the Idaho Open Records Act specifically states: “Every person has a right to examine and take a copy of any public record of this state and there is a presumption that all public records in Idaho are open at all reasonable times for inspection.”

Under the law (Title 74, Section 102), last amended in 2022, state agencies — and UI is one — can charge a fee for producing copies if there are more than 100 pages, the time will take more than two hours of employees’ time and if the request includes records in which nonpublic information must be removed.

The law also allows agencies to set up a copying fee schedule, plus a uniform fee can be set to include tapes, discs, microfilm and recording systems. The law does urge a standard fair cost for all duplications and urges agencies not to exceed reasonable labor costs in collecting the data.

Yet the track record shows UI does not seem to agree.

On the surface, it seems UI wants to run the process of buying Phoenix as a normal private business venture. Unfortunately, there is state taxpayer money at stake here, and that alone should make the purchase transaction process much more transparent. Again, looking at the actions taken during the purchase process, UI seems to disagree.

Please be clear, I am not accusing UI of violating the Open Records Act, but it does appear to me they are taking advantage of the law by deciding what is “reasonable” in terms of finding, copying or electronically filing the documents in question.

Often when journalists work to help a state legislature develop an open records law, they find state agencies do try to protect as much of their information as possible. The Idaho Legislature had it absolutely right in their opening to the law which clearly says all records are open unless there is a very good reason why not.

Idaho does have many exceptions to its law, including protecting trade secrets, work in ongoing criminal investigations, personal information of citizens and records involving children, among others. These are reasonable exceptions to prevent damage to certain groups. To ward off spam calls, the state law also prohibits any requests which can be used for telephone lists.

But to require more than $2,000 for copies of emails and memorandums, which should be accessible with a few mouse clicks, does make the public wonder what is being hidden by university officials.

Specifically, the law says in paragraph f, “The public agency shall not charge any cost or fee for copies or labor when the requestor demonstrates that the requestor’s examination and/or copying of public records is likely to contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of the operations or activities of the government.”

The law also says a charge cannot occur if the requestor does not have sufficient funds to pay for the fees. Finally, the law demands that each agency give an itemized bill of all employee’s time, no lump sum costs can be assigned. I don’t know if UI itemized the bill to Idaho EdNews or not. I would hope they did.

Whether or not the purchase is worth the price or even something a state university should be doing is another topic for another day. There are no state laws prohibiting UI from buying another university.

However, if UI wants to keep the spirit of the state’s law, there certainly should be more transparency, and it should be at a lower financial cost to both news groups and the public.

Tallent was a journalism faculty member at the University of Idaho for 13 years before her retirement in 2019. She is of Cherokee descent and is a member of both the Indigenous Journalists Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. She also writes for Faith and Values News (spokanefavs.com).