Chancellor confident UA not hiding info

! Missing page concerning UA’s negotiations with health care providers raised questions

Posted: October 8, 2009 at 6:26 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Having “looked into it myself,” University of Arkansas Chancellor Dr. David Gearhart said Wednesday he’s “confident”the UA athletics department and Jeff Long did not intentionally hide anything fulfilling a recent Freedom of Information Act request by the Arkansas Business publication.

Arkansas Business published an article Sept. 21 concerning the UA’s negotiations with health care providers for Razorback athletes and reports that part of those negotiations were tied to sponsorship money.

One slide of a six-page PowerPoint presentationwas omitted from the presentation, which raised editorial concerns from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last Sunday that the UA may have circumvented the FOIA request.

The Democrat-Gazette wrote in its editorial that a public body’s obligation to fulfill a FOIA request, “isn’t just a request. It’s the law.”

Arkansas Business obtained the missing slide elsewhere and reported “the slide shows six bullet-pointed items, including the UA’s desire for the groups to present new proposals to the department by January 9, 2009, and launch a new partner-ship by March 1, 2009.” The slide also asked the group as a whole to meet “a minimum corporate sponsorship level of $450k per year,” which would equal $150,000 per group per year.

Gearhart said the missing slide was part of an original presentation but removed “almost a year ago.” It was not, Gearhart said, included in the final presentation and thus not included with the documents requested by Arkansas Business.

“I have talked multiple times with Jeff,” Gearhart said. “The way it has been explained to me, that missing slide for lack of a better way to put it, was actually not in the presentation except for the first presentation that was made. That was, I was told, done over a year ago then it was subsequently deleted. One of the provider groups did have that slide, but it was removed for presentation purposes almost a year ago in order to keep sponsorship issues off the table. So when [UA officials] were asked for the slides, the only ones they had were the ones with that one slide deleted. I am confident that is the case.”

Gearhart said, “having one PowerPoint presentation without it andthen having another one that has it doesn’t, frankly, look all that great, but I have to trust their answer on that. I have looked into it myself and talked with [Long] about it and talked to several people other than Jeff and I am confident that, indeed, is in fact what happened - that when they were asked for the slides they gave what they actually had. I don’t feel in my heart they were trying to hide anything.”

Gearhart, whose late father was an editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times, said he takes “very seriously” fulfilling requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

“I pride myself and expect all the vice-chancellors to do the same in living up to the letter of the law,” Gearhart said. “We try to have a high degree of integrity and I expect that of anybody who works for me. If that slide was removed before it was sent to Arkansas Business or the Democrat-Gazette or whomever, I would think that would be a very serious issue. But I am confident it was removed well over a year ago and that the two issues of sponsorships and providing health services were kept separate.

“I am confident after talking to Jeff and others that they were not trying to hide anything or create any problem in that regard.”

Sports, Pages 8 on 10/08/2009

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