After a Post records request last August, several high-ranking Ohio University officials began talking via e-mail about how they were going to respond.
The consensus was they should fight releasing records from an anonymous tip-line meant to collect instances of fraud within the university. But after meeting with the Ohio Attorney General’s office the records were released. Their conversation then turned to the wastefulness of broad, far-reaching public records requests.
The president of the OU Board of Trustees, C. Daniel DeLawder, remarked that he was “sickened” by the “waste and unproductive time spent in the name of open records and freedom of the press.”
Ironically, the public only learned the candid thoughts of DeLawder and others after a records request recently disclosed all of those e-mails.
That’s the thing about public records. They provide a window into how public institutions operate without the filtering process of communications departments and public relations representatives.
And they stand as one of the public’s greatest weapons for accountability.
Those broad requests are needed to see how a university’s budget is being spent and if it’s being wasted. They’re needed to see if a city’s new policy has cost more money than it was supposed to save. They’re needed to find truth — printed right there in black and white.
Public records laws were not written for the satisfaction of any public bureaucracy. They exist to ensure those bureaucracies run to the satisfaction of the public. Complaining of any inconvenience they create is akin to railing against the doctrine of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’
A prosecutor must meet a higher burden of proof to ensure no innocent man is put in jail. A public university spending millions of dollars in taxes a year should have to work to meet a burden of its own. Theirs is collecting information and making copies — sometimes lots of them.
It’s transparency at the highest level.
And, once again, public records have delivered that transparency, so rarely found in a scheduled interview or press release. In the same e-mail mentioned above, DeLawder called these requests a “sore subject” and that the university should consider not fulfilling a similar one “without a fight.”
If that’s ever the case again, Mr. DeLawder should expect the same in return.
Reader Comments
The president of the OU Board of Trustees, C. Daniel DeLawder, remarked that he was “sickened” by the “waste and unproductive time spent in the name of open records and freedom of the press.”
this is sadly not the worst of the internal ou emails, of the released and unreleased. think of the chaos amongst athens if the truth about this years and last years student senate election fraud got uncovered via "public records". and there is also the purpose lack of involvement with students, staff, and teachers regarding mcdavis' contract extension then subsequent raise. mcdavis had a 5 year plan for a reason: 5 years of dictatorship with no one to stop him. the public was made ineffective to stop his tirade via his pawns/administrators hired. find the truth before it is too late...
Amen.
DeLawder, McDavis and Krendl, YOU WORK FOR US! Your pay (or appointment) comes from US. You answer to US.
If there is waste and fraud, we want to hear about it. If you know about it, you're obliged to tell us upon request. If you don't like it, get a job at a private university, in fact, you'll be doing us a favor by getting a job at a private university, save us the embarrassment of having to take more no-confidence votes or actually getting your butts fired.
OU Alum, class of 2004 who will make my first donation on the next president and provost's first day on the job.
In DeLawders defense, he said that it was the time spent that was sickening. Not the actual release of the information. Which doesnt really surprise me. Imagine if you had a full schedule at work and then needed to copy and print all your emails from who knows how long ago or risk being viewed as hiding something.
Time spent that is part of that office's job duties. Yes it sucks to have to go search through records and print documents out, but it is part of running a public service job. I know most people in medical offices dislike getting together medical records and faxing or mailing them to insurance companies, other doctors, other hospitals, etc., but it's part of the job.
As for complaining about wasted time, how about our board of trustees who only meet a few times a year? They could easily accomplish more if all them were present at every meeting and they simply doubled their number of meetings a year. Six meetings a year doesn't seem to illogical to me? Maybe I am wrong. Complaints about time and/or money wasted coming from a top administrative worker for this university is not only extremely laughable, but it's down right hypocritical. Oh well. DeLawder if you like having to release documents to the press and following the written law then you have two choices either shut up and have the offices gather up the records (especially since I doubt you are walking through the stacks gathering such records!), or you can resign and go work for a private college where you are above any public university laws.
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