Court supports release of university records.

• Date: 10 July 2002
• Author: Anderson, Tony

Byline: Tony Anderson

The University of Wisconsin has to comply with a researcher's request for student admissions information, despite the university's contention that the student records were not subject to disclosure.

The state Supreme Court looked at federal and state guidelines for the release of university information and found that the school was required to fulfill a request by J. Marshall Osborn. As part of a research project Osborn had sought to review the university's admissions practices by looking at undergraduate applications from 1993-'97.

Request for Records

Osborn had asked for a variety of information in 27 different areas including high school grade point averages, SAT scores, race and socio-economic information. He made similar requests of the UW Law School and Medical School.

The university provided some of the information requested but left out information pertaining to GPAs, class rank, race and sex. The university held that the requested information was part of the educational record and that student records contain personally identifiable information, which should not be released under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Additionally, the university maintained that the information sought was only available in the individual files, thus the university would essentially have to create a new record, which was not required under the open records law.

Osborn maintained that his request did not require the release of personally identifiable information in violation of FERPA. Since Osborn was not looking for the entire student record or information that specifically identified students, he did not believe FERPA barred the request.

Osborn went to the Dane County Circuit Court seeking a writ of mandamus for the records' release. The university responded with a motion to dismiss. Circuit Court Judge Stuart A. Schwartz denied the writ with regard to applicants who had matriculated to the university, noting they were covered under FERPA. However, he granted the writ for the records of students who had not enrolled in the university, stating that they did not fall under the FERPA guidelines. How-ever, in order to view that information, Schwartz determined it was Osborn's responsibility to gather it from each individual record rather than having the university compile it.

The university appealed, and Osborn cross-appealed. The court of appeals determined all of the requested records were exempt under FERPA and the state's open records law. Osborn petitioned the state Supreme Court for review and the high court reversed the court of appeals in a six-person decision authored by Justice N. Patrick Crooks. Chief Justice Shirley...