Lawsuit: UALR can't take two weeks to provide email

LITTLE ROCK -- The University of Arkansas at Little Rock's promise to take two weeks to fulfill a public-records request violates the state Freedom of Information Act, a lawyer suing the school states in his second lawsuit alleging the university has been breaking public-record laws.

Attorney Matt Campbell sued the school, law school Dean Michael Schwartz and university attorney Joann Maxey in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Monday over their response to his Freedom of Information request for emails from faculty and staff at the W.H. Bowen School of Law.

According to his nine-page lawsuit, Campbell submitted an open-records requests to Schwartz last week for emails exchanged during a 26-day period beginning Nov. 20 between Bowen faculty, staff and administrators. The emails relate to Campbell's Freedom of Information lawsuit against the school on behalf of law professor Robert Steinbuch, a recognized authority on Arkansas' open-record law.

Maxey responded on behalf of the dean the day after Campbell sent his request, stating in an email that the school would not fulfill Campbell's request until Jan. 4 because the school closed for winter break beginning last Friday, the suit states.

Maxey explained that, under the Freedom of Information law, school officials had three "business days" to fulfill public-records requests, making Jan. 4 that third day, according to the lawsuit.

The school has begun assembling the emails, according to Campbell's suit, which notes that Schwartz sent out an email notice Thursday, Dec., 17, asking every faculty, staff and administrator to immediately begin collecting the emails Campbell had asked for and to turn them over to him by Friday, Dec. 18.

According to Campbell's lawsuit, the emails do not fall under the category of public records that would have given the school up to three days to turn them over.

The public-records law also does not have a provision recognizing "business" days but describes the time as "working" days, which the lawsuit argues means that the records were due last Friday. Campbell has requested a hearing before Judge Alice Gray as soon as possible.

Tuesday, Maxey declined to comment on the lawsuit except to say that she was looking forward to responding to Campbell's allegations as soon as possible and that the university intends to comply with the public-records law.

"We will set out our position to that complaint in our response to the Court," Maxey stated in an email. "However, it is always our goal to comply with the law and to provide responsive documents as soon as possible."

The emails Campbell has requested were any written or exchanged by faculty and staff about Steinbuch, his research, Campbell or the lawsuit against the school, according to the lawsuit.

Steinbuch sued the school and the dean on Nov. 17 accusing Schwartz of violating the open-records law by refusing to turn over student admissions and grading data representing seven years worth of law school graduates.

Steinbuch expanded his lawsuit about a week later to include a whistleblower complaint against associate dean Theresa Beiner, accusing her of retaliating against him for filing his lawsuit.

On Dec. 10, Steinbuch petitioned the presiding circuit judge in that case, Tim Fox, for a temporary restraining order against the school and administrators based on the contents of emails sent to Beiner by two other law professors, Adoja Aiyetoro and Sarah Jenkins, who questioned Steinbuch's grading procedure, which Steinbuch maintained showed ongoing retaliation against him. A hearing on the restraining order request is scheduled for Jan. 25.

Maxey is also defending the school in that suit with co-counsel Sarah James. In their response to Steinbuch, they assert that the material he requested is barred from being released, except with the redactions school officials imposed, due to federal student privacy protections.

The records he seeks are included in a spreadsheet showing individual test scores, college grade-point average, law school grade-point average, race, gender and age for all students who graduated from the law school and took the bar exam over a seven-year period.

The attorneys acknowledge in court filings that the school had given him that same type of information unredacted in 2013, but the school was wrong to release it under federal law.

Other actions the school has taken involving Steinbuch are not retaliation, but represent school administrators investigating concerns expressed by students and other professors about his grading practices and interactions with students, the filing states.

NW News on 12/24/2015

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