Sorry, long post.

The UO Public Records Office currently has many unfilled requests for public documents, going back as far as August. They haven’t yet filled any of the requests they’ve received since January 17, more than a month ago, except for boilerplate requests for coaches contracts or directories. A lot of public records are in a filing cabinent. However, recently people have started using something like this ediscovery tool to help them find out public records quicker and mroe efficiently. The Oregon DOJ says two weeks should generally be enough time to provide public records to the public. You can also search up public records from the convenience of your home by using this useful website, Backgroundchecks.org.

The one exception is General Counsel Kevin Reed’s request for my emails as UO Senate President. He emailed me that request the evening of Jan 16th. I sent him a follow-up asking for clarification, and 3 days after receiving that I sent him all the requested emails at no charge – including those responsive to his rather chilling new request:

“Please share any communications you have had with persons associated with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in the past 12 months, made in your capacity as an officer of the University Senate or member of any of its committees, which communications relate to or concern freedom of speech or academic freedom at the University of Oregon.”

Despite my cooperation, Reed tried to convince the PR Officer – who works for him – that I’d tried to hide something. She wouldn’t buy it, and last night she updated the log entry to show that I’d provided the records: Those email exchanges are at the bottom of this post.

The rest of the PR log shows how slow the office is generally. Unfortunately UO does not show the fees they are imposing:

Public Requests Record Log

On FridayFeb 3, 2017, at 3:04 PM, Kevin Reed <ksreed@uoregon.edu> wrote:

Senate President Harbaugh:

In answer to your questions:

1) I seek all communications concerning or mentioning the STC you made in your capacity as an officer of the University Senate (Vice President, President or member or Chair of the STC), regardless of which media or device you sued for your communication.

2) No. I do not believe FIRE or SPLC qualify as “media.” If it helps in narrowing the search, please feel free to limit my request to communications with reporters, editors or other personnel associated with the Register Guard, the Oregonian, the Daily Emerald, The Chronicle of Higher Education or Inside Higher Ed.

But, given that you have shared that you correspond with FIRE, I will make the additional request under the Oregon Public Records Law:

Please share any communications you have had with persons associated with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in the past 12 months, made in your capacity as an officer of the University Senate or member of any of its committees, which communications relate to or concern freedom of speech or academic freedom at the University of Oregon.

Kevin S. Reed | Vice President and General Counsel

Office of the General Counsel

219 Johnson Hall | Eugene, OR 97403-1226

(541) 346-3082 | ksreed@uoregon.edu

I sent Reed the documents:

From: UO Senate President <senatepres@uoregon.edu>

Subject: Re: Public Records – Request for Documents 2017-PRR-172

Date: February 6, 2017 at 12:26:36 PM PST

To: Kevin Reed <ksreed@uoregon.edu>

Cc: Lisa Thornton <pubrec@uoregon.edu>, Chris Sinclair <csinclai@uoregon.edu>, Scott R Maier <smaier@uoregon.edu>, Brent Walth <bwalth@uoregon.edu>, Gina Psaki <gpsaki@gmail.com>, Dianne Dugaw <dugaw@uoregon.edu>

Dear GC Reed –

The attached folder has the public records you requested. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Bill Harbaugh, Senate President, Economics Professor, University of Oregon

I wrote to Reed and the PRO office, asking that hey correct the log to make clear that I’d sent the documents: From: UO Senate President [mailto:senatepres@uoregon.edu]

Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 11:48 AM

To: Lisa Thornton <lthorn@uoregon.edu>

Cc: Kevin Reed <ksreed@uoregon.edu>

Subject: Fwd: Public Records – Request for Documents 2017-PRR-172 Dear Public Records Officer Thornton – I’m writing to ask that you correct the public records log at http://publicrecords.uoregon.edu/content/correspondence-19 which currently reads Correspondence Requester: Reed, Kevin Organization: Private Initial Request Date: 01/22/2017 Status: Requesting/Reviewing Records Please consider this a request, under the Oregon Public Records Law, of all communications made in in the past 12 months, between the current chair of the Senate Transparency Committee and members of the committee concerning the business of this committee, as well as all communications between the Chair of the STC and any members of the media concerning or mentioning the committee. Corrections: 1) As you can see in the emails below, GC Reed made these requests in his official capacity as University of Oregon GC, not as “Private”. 2) As you can see in the emails below, GC Reeds request evolved over time, and I believe the log should show the final actual request. 3) As you can see in the emails below, I have provided the documents that GC requested in that final request, and the log should note this. Thanks, Bill Harbaugh, Senate President Economics Professor University of Oregon GC Reed responded by ignoring my point that he had made the requests in his official capacity and doubting I had done this and demanding I explain what exemptions I’d used:

On FridayFeb 17, 2017, at 2:48 PM, Kevin Reed wrote:

PRO Thornton:

Here is what Mr. Harbaugh said about his production on his blog:

“OK, so I might have left out a few emails with reporters.”

Unless he is prepared to describe the exemptions under the Oregon Public Records law on which he relied to withhold responsive emails, and unless you concur that those exemptions justify the withholding, I think it would be inaccurate to say that he responded to my request.

Should you need any guidance on the interpretation of the PRL as it relates to exemptions, please consult with Doug Park or Bryan Dearinger.

Thank you.

219 Johnson Hall | Eugene, OR 97403-1226

(541) 346-3082 | ksreed@uoregon.edu

generalcounsel.uoregon.edu

I responded to PRO Thornton, explaining that General Counsel Reed was confused:

From: UO Senate President [mailto:senatepres@uoregon.edu]

Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 4:33 PM

To: Lisa Thornton

Subject: Re: Public Records – Request for Documents 2017-PRR-172

Dear Ms Thornton:

General Counsel Reed’s PR request, as he clarified it on Feb 3, asked me for

“all communications concerning or mentioning the STC you made in your capacity as an officer of the University Senate (Vice President, President or member or Chair of the STC)”

and

“any communications you have had with persons associated with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in the past 12 months, made in your capacity as an officer of the University Senate or member of any of its committees, which communications relate to or concern freedom of speech or academic freedom at the University of Oregon.”

(emphasis added). As I wrote to him and to you on Feb 14th,

I responded to this on Feb 6th, ccing Thornton, with a folder which I believe contains all the relevant emails. There are no relevant texts.

I am not claiming any exemptions under the PR law. I’m not sure why he thinks my blog comment suggests that I’ve done so, or why he thinks my blog is relevant at all to this request. Please update the Public Records log to reflect that this PR request was made by GC Reed in his official capacity, and that the request has been satisfied.

Thank you,

Bill Harbaugh, Senate President, Economics Professor, University of Oregon

And Ms Thornton promptly and helpfully responded by correcting the log.

She also introducing the novel argument that because UO’s interpretation of state law requires requests come from private citizens, Reed must have been acting as such, even though he used his official UO email and title, etc:

2/20/2017