UK turns over visitor policy records to student newspaper after lawsuit
The University of Kentucky has turned over to the student newspaper documents related to the night a crime was reported in a campus dorm, ending a monthslong legal fight over the records.
The Kentucky Kernel, the UK student newspaper, filed a lawsuit in November after Editor-in-Chief Abbey Cutrer requested a series of records related to visitor policies and record-keeping in dorms. UK cited privacy as an exemption to the Kentucky open records law and said the requested records were “preliminary,” declining to release them.
The Kernel then filed a lawsuit seeking the records.
In April, Fayette Circuit Court Judge Thomas Travis ruled the records were considered public under the state open records law and UK must release them, with some allowed to be redacted. UK had 20 days to release the records from the time of the ruling, according to court documents.
“We’re thankful the judge ruled in our favor and that we finally have the records we’ve always had a right to,” Cutrer told the Herald-Leader. “The Kernel serves as a watchdog to hold the university, and others, accountable and this was an example of that.”
The request was filed after a man who was not a UK student was arrested on suspicion of choking and raping a UK student in the Chellgren Hall dorm in September. The case was dismissed by a grand jury in March, and charges against the man were dropped.
The man was signed into the dorm as a guest for multiple days in September, though records did not show the man checking into Chellgren the night the victim reported the assault, the Kernel reported. Guests must present an ID when checking in, according to the university.
“We’re very pleased that the court ruled these records had to be released and we’re glad to finally have them,” said Mike Abate, lawyer for the Kernel. “We don’t understand why the university fought so hard to keep this information from the public, but we do think that it raises some questions as to whether the visitor policy in the dorms is being consistently and strictly enforced.”
Included in the records request from Cutrer was a list of all non-UK students who signed into Chellgren Hall the night of the reported crime, and records documenting when the man accused of the crimes had signed into any dorm this school year.
UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university had complied with the court’s ruling, and said the redactions were needed to protect student and guest privacy.
“We are pleased that the Court recognized the need to redact ‘so as to account for legitimate privacy concerns associated with disclosure of the names of both ‘guests’ and ‘hosts’ alike.’ Throughout this litigation, the university has insisted that it must protect the privacy of student residents and their guests,” Blanton said.