UFE Issues and Initiatives

DATE: April 3, 2008

TO: UFE Members

FROM: Laurie Meeker, Chair; José Gomez, Vice-Chair; Sarah Ryan, Stewards Coordinator

RE: WEA Memo on Public Records Requests

Some of you have asked UFE for legal advice regarding the public records request that we all received recently related to the events of February 14-15, 2008 after the Dead Prez concert in the College’s Campus Recreation Center. For that legal advice, we turned to the Office of the General Counsel of the Washington Education Association, with which we are affiliated. A memorandum about this from Eric R. Hansen, staff attorney, has been posted to our web page for you to review. He provides answers to the substantive questions that some of you have asked about academic freedom and the right to privacy. For memo details... read

As for your procedural queries, Eric points out that the Public Records Act does not provide answers to such questions as what form the required disclosure should be in (electronic or paper) or who is responsible for redacting information that should not be disclosed. Of course, these are procedural matters that are delegated to the public records officer who is charged with overseeing compliance with the Act (See RCW 42.56.580 and WAC 174-276-040).

If you have any further questions about this, feel free to contact José Gómez. His personal phone number is (360) 888-0310. His personal e-mail message is jose@gomez.net. Please do not use the Evergreen e-mail or telephone service for this communication.

• For further bargaining details, see Bargaining Team Report