The University of Michigan, often simply referred to as "Michigan," is a public research university in Ann Arbor. | Wikimedia Commons
The University of Michigan, often simply referred to as "Michigan," is a public research university in Ann Arbor. | Wikimedia Commons
In responding to an open records request from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the University of Michigan has been stalling since last May.
The Mackinac Center has made two document requests to the university for information on the science and data behind Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 response. The university’s failure to fulfill the request resulted in a lawsuit in December, challenging the university's lack of transparency.
While Whitmer’s emails are exempt from the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), emails from university officials who were relied upon for data are not protected, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Information requests were made on May 13 and May 27, but the university fell short of full compliance, according to the Mackinac Center. The university relied on a "frank communications" exemption to withhold documents or heavily redact them. It was not the first time the university has fallen back on that exemption.
In 2017 the university cited the exemption in a dispute over seven emails of Michigan State University President Mark Schlissel. They were ultimately released by in a settlement with the Mackinac Center.
In the university’s first response, it provided information readily available to the public and 155 pages of communication dealing mainly with logistics of who would attend meetings. The university followed up with another 224 documents after the center filed a lawsuit. Once again, they fell short of expectations with duplicate copies and heavily redacted documents.
For its part, the University of Michigan says it is willing to defend itself in court.
“We are baffled that the Mackinac Center would file a lawsuit in this matter,” university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in an email, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential. “In response to the Mackinac Center’s FOIA appeal, the university provided 224 pages of documents with very modest redactions -- mostly of email addresses for security purposes -- perhaps totaling five pages. That is in addition to the 155 pages of documents provided in the university’s initial response. The university will vigorously defend the integrity of our FOIA process in the court of claims.”
Alerts Sign-up