Editor,

Emerald Media Group’s SunshineCampus, a fundraising campaign to support the cost of public records requests, is a creative approach to an issue critical to investigative reporting: the acquisition of information necessary for quality news reporting. As the person who oversees public records requests for the University of Oregon, I would like to clarify our office’s approach to such requests and offer some additional information regarding the context in which these requests are considered.

While your site states the UO “has a policy of charging fees to access public records,” we have in fact fulfilled 72 percent of requests received this year at no charge. Generally fees are charged for requests that are considered complex or extensive, including those that require significant staff time, sometimes involving multiple offices. In recent years, we have processed an increasing volume of requests, while significantly decreasing our response time.

We are committed to supporting quality journalism, and as members of the university community, are particularly supportive of the work of students. To that end, I have convened a committee to review our policies, with a primary goal being to better serve the needs of student journalists, and fulfill as many requests as possible at no charge. We will also schedule meetings with student journalists before the fall term begins, to provide information to help them format requests in ways that target the information they need, while streamlining the process for university staff to gather and provide it.

Dave Hubin
Senior Assistant to the President
University of Oregon