By: Keeley Sheehan and Taylor Gaudens
After an initial estimate ranging from $240 to $480, USF St. Petersburg officials estimated it would cost $552 to complete a public records request for documents about Residence Hall One.
The request was submitted following a Saturday, Oct. 1 room check between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. performed by a student assistant and resident assistant that raised some students’ concerns. Students questioned the time of the check and whether everyone performing them was authorized to do so.
Heather Klisanin, assistant director of Residence Life and Housing, told The Crow’s Nest after the incident that student assistants are allowed to be a part of the room check process if they are accompanied by an RA. Students were given a 48-hour notice of the check, Klisanin said. The University Student Housing Guidebook requires at least 24-hours notice.
On Oct. 5, The Crow’s Nest submitted a public records request to Kay-lynne Taylor, director of student services, for “copies of all documents of Residence Hall One activities concerning resident assistants and student assistants that pertain to activities between and including the days of Thursday, Sept. 29 through Tuesday, Oct. 4.”
The Crow’s Nest submitted a second request on Thursday, Oct. 6 after questions of clarification from RHO. The request asked for all public records, both paper and electronic, created by USFSP between the same dates from the original request, and stated “if the request exceeds the reasonable amount of $20, please provide an itemized list of documents you are intending to provide.”
Taylor said in an Oct. 10 email that the request would require Information Technology to do a word search, and that IT would prepare a cost and time estimate for the search.
Later that evening, The Crow’s Nest clarified the request to include records about “Residential Life and Housing that mention Residence Hall One or RHO, for the same dates.” Taylor replied the same evening and said she would forward the message to the IT department in order to get a time estimate for the project.
Following no communication between the paper staff and RHO, The Crow’s Nest submitted anther request on Monday, Oct. 31. The publication then requested access to the documents if the amount were to exceed $20.
Around noon on Thursday, Nov. 3, Taylor wrote the “IT time cost is estimated in a range between $240 and $480.” Taylor said in the email she would “calculate the cost of labor, IT costs, etc.” and would reply to The Crow’s Nest by the next evening. On the evening of Friday, Nov.4 , Taylor emailed the public records charge document.
On Tuesday, Nov. 8, The Crow’s Nest submitted a follow-up request addressing the cost. The publication asked for an itemized list of charges detailing the $552 estimate, and access to the documents to for the staff to make its own copies.
On Wednesday, Nov. 9, just before 9 a.m., Taylor replied with the explanation of the request via email. The IT labor cost includes four hours of work per each computer at the rate of $60 per hour.
“The Residential Education and Housing team identified at least three computers, but I provided you a total for only two computers to help save your funds,” Taylor said in the email.
Of granting access for The Crow’s Nest staff to make its own copies, Taylor said in the email, “duplication must be handled by the professional Student Services personnel to meet FERPA guidelines given there may be student records involved.”
FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, is the 1974 federal law set in place to protect students’ right to access and have control over the disclosure of private information found in educational records.
The Crow’s Nest has not yet responded to the $552 fee. It does not have the liquid assets to pay the charges. The Crow’s Nest budget is funded through an allocation of Activities and Services fees, and advertising. The Crow’s Nest budget as of April 2011 may be found by searching for “2011-2012_SG_BUDGET2” in Google Docs.
On the morning of Monday, Nov. 7, Matthew Morrin, director of Student Life & Engagement, expressed his concern in an email to The Crow’s Nest due to the cost of the request. Public records costs have not been accounted for in the paper’s budget. Morrin requested the Media Board—a panel of school administrators and USFSP Department of Journalism & Media Studies professors that oversee campus media—meet to discuss how the publication would handle public records costs.
