Losing trust in our Trustees

“The Ohio University Board of Trustees serves the public trust. The members of the Board are charged with the responsibility to be accountable to the institution’s mission and cultural heritage, the transcendent values and principles that guide and shape higher education and the public interest as well as the legitimate and relevant interests of the institution’s various constituencies.”

Visitors to the official website of the Ohio University Board of Trustees are greeted by this message. The board has a noble mission, yes – protecting the assets of the first university in the Northwest Territory and the oldest in the state while continuing to foster success and growth. But they also serve to enhance and protect the educational experiences of over 20,000 students across 6 campuses. In order to operate efficiently and effectively in this role requires a strong sense of the community that exists on each of these campuses. The board says so themselves, they have a responsibility to be accountable to the interest of OU’s various constituencies – faculty, students, and alumni.

With this responsibility comes the need for transparency and openness. The board holds the purse strings for the university and acts as watchdog over administration. These 14 people wield and great deal of power – and yet are accountable not only to the staff and students of the university, but also to the state as a whole, which provides much of the annual budget funding.

Imagine, then, the shock that comes with the revelation of this kicker from board chairman C. Daniel Delawder in an email in July 2008 after the Athens NEWS picked up on the board’s continued disregard for fulfilling records requests from student-run newspaper The Post:

“This is a very sore subject for me, and perhaps it’s time we started pushing back. And I am quite serious; I am even unsure that we should provide the next document without a fight. It sickens me to think of the waste and unproductive time being spent in the name of open records and freedom of the press.”

It seems as though the pesky reporters out in Athens are getting on Mr. Chairman’s last nerve and he won’t have it anymore. And who could argue with the man, filling those requests for PUBLIC records is a waste of the money handed to the board by the general fund paid by the same students who made the request.

Maybe it is time we remind Mr. Delawder and the rest of the board that despite their high, mighty, and very distant position with this institution, they are a state entity and therefore must act within the letter of the law. Some of us have a name for that law even – the Ohio Open Records Law, a state extension of the Freedom of Information Act.

While it may seem that records requests are a “waste” and “unproductive” to Mr. Delawder, it is a necessary element to our free society and to our jobs as journalists. But journalists aren’t the only people affected by this brash and blatant disregard for transparency and accountability. Providing open access to meetings and availability of related public documents is something we should ALL fight for. It is certainly worth our time and dedication. Thus, I invite all students who believe in the public’s right to open records to speak out and stand up – join SPJ’s efforts to curb this movement within our university community!

To use Mr. Delawder’s own words, this is a very sore subject for me, and perhaps it is time we start pushing back. And I am quite serious. Should this asinine policy be implemented by the OU Board of Trustees, SPJ will certainly push back – just like it has done for the past 100 years in order to protect the nature and rights of people and journalists across the nation. The Board needs to live up to its creed of account ability to its constituencies and hiding public records is quite counterproductive.

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This commentary will appear beginning tomorrow in the newest edition of "inc." - pick it up in Scripps Hall! This will be the final print edition on "inc." before we move to an electronic format, allowing us to change our writing style and content somewhat for better ease of access for you.

We at OU SPJ encourage everyone to take a copy tomorrow and over the next week and pass along this commentary to fellow journalists and involved students, faculty, and staff - this is an issue for ALL of us because it is OUR money at stake. Public records are available to the PUBLIC....not just the media.

Evan Millward
President, OU SPJ