CMU given failing grade in transparency during SPJ FOIA audit
Patricia Alvord, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, speaks at the FOIA Panel about Central Michigan University's transparency with sexual assault records at Moore Hall 105 on April 12, 2018.
Central Michigan University’s Society of Professional Journalists revealed the results for their 2018 Freedom of Information Act audit at 7 p.m. April 12.
Several months ago, SPJ sent out FOIA requests to all schools within the Mid-American Conference (MAC). In the requests, SPJ asked for all incident reports relating to sexual assault, harassment and violence. They also requested arrest records as well as policies and guidelines officers must follow when dealing with potential victims.
SPJ president, Patricia Alvord, presented the FOIA results and discussed the importance of FOIA transparency.
"The public and I deserve to know the dangers we may face as students on a college campus," said Alvord.
On April 12, SPJ shared their discoveries with the public. Students and faculty members gathered together in Moore Hall room 105 to discuss these findings.
The goal of the audits was to see how MAC schools reacted to the FOIA requests and what information each school would give.
The event began with a presentation of the results and segued into a panel, moderated by Edgar Simpson. The panel included Timothy Boudreau, journalism department chair; Jordyn Hermani, editor-in-chief of Central Michigan Life; and Emily Jones, vice president of the Organization of Women Leaders.
SPJ gave each school a letter grade between A-E based on how quickly they responded and on the information given.
Out of the 12 MAC schools, four received A’s, one received a B, four received a C, and three received an E. CMU was one of the universities to receive a failing grade.
Grade A schools did not provide all of the requested information. However, the information that was given was deemed A-worthy, said SPJ President Patricia Alvord.
Schools given an A grading include:
- Miami University
- University of Akron
- Northern Illinois University
- Bowling Green State University
Miami University provided a total of 62 incident reports in 12 days. It also included the university's sexual assault packet, victims compensation, victims rights and policy manual.
University of Akron gave a total of 17 incident reports including narratives in 11 days. In its reports, the university listed known suspects and gave an additional document reviewing victims rights.
Northern Illinois University gave a total of 29 heavily-redacted incident reports in 17 days. NIU also included its responsibilities, patient consent forms and evidence collection. NIU was the only university to give an arrest report.
Bowling Green State University gave heavily redacted incident reports within eight days. It also included their police policy. This university cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
FERPA is a law that protects the privacy of student education records. Colleges will reference FERPA if they feel the information is too sensitive and has the potential to harm a student's identity, Alvord said.
The only school that received a B was the University of Toledo. It took the university one day to respond to the initial FOIA letter, but 39 additional days to send the information. In the end, SPJ was given a total of 15 lightly-redacted incidents.
Schools given a C grading include:
- Eastern Michigan University
- Ball State University
- Kent State University
Eastern Michigan University was the only school that required a payment in order to receive documents. EMU responded within five days and their final response was given within 16 additional days. The university was the only school that did not inform SPJ of the documents it would send.
Ball State University responded within seven days and sent a final response 28 days later. Most incident reports from Ball State were blank, only stating the offense.
Kent State University responded within a day and only sent the police procedure along with non-requested additional information.
All schools that received an E grading either failed to send any requested information or outright denied the request.
CMU was the only school to deny the request. The university claimed the personal nature of the documents and their potential to reveal "embarrassing and intimate details" is an invasion of privacy. When asked about requested guidelines and policies, the FOIA response stated “there are no responsive documents."
Once all the results were given, the panel began answering questions. The discussion took many turns but overall followed the topic of transparency or lack thereof.
During the panel, Hermani discussed her previous experiences with trying to obtain information from CMU.
“When (information) doesn’t look so hot for (CMU), it seems that we have no problem keeping information quiet," Hermani said. "When it looks great, God help the individual on the other end of that FOIA."
Dexter sophomore Kayleigh McCarthy attended the SPJ FOIA audit and was disappointed in how the findings reflected on her university of choice.
“I thought it is really important to share that CMU is not as open as they claim to be,” said sophomore of Dexter, Kayleigh McCarthy. “I feel disappointed at their lack of transparency, considering it was a deciding factor of me attending CMU.
