OSU is committed to transparency

We take issue with information in recent articles in The Dispatch about the performance of Ohio State University on public records.

For example, last Sunday’s Dispatch article “OSU denies access when others don’t” stated, “Every other public university in Ohio has made public the names of students who have been disciplined by their schools for committing acts of violence. But not at Ohio State ...”

This is simply false. With appropriate requests, Ohio State has shared the names of students who are found in violation of the code of student conduct for behavior that is criminally violent. In fact, in 2014 we released exactly these types of records to one of the reporters who wrote the story in answer to her records request.

We also have a robust system for keeping our entire community actively informed about crime on campus, including a daily online crime log (https://dps.osu.edu/ daily-crime-log), a mobile public-safety alert system, and a detailed annual report on campus crime.

Here’s what the record demonstrates about our commitment to transparency:

■ Ohio State formed a Public Records Office in 2013 to enhance the public’s ability to access records, and since then while the volume of requests has doubled, the response time has improved by 16 percent.

■ The Dispatch reported on the Ohio Auditor of State’s annual Sunshine Week report on public records scofflaws, which cited 414 recordsrelated citations issued to 357 entities in 2016. Ohio State received zero citations.

The Dispatch claimed ■ Ohio State has withheld public records and at the same time has praised a new system at the Court of Claims for gaining access to such records, but the newspaper has not once used this system to seek access to records to which they believe they are entitled at Ohio State.

■ In specific contrast, on March 9, the New York Times publicly praised the university for its timely and transparent response to a massive public records request on a complicated and difficult subject.

The university manages tens of millions of public records under the law to advance two critically important interests: First, protecting the privacy of medical patients; students, faculty and staff; and the other members of our community. Second, operating transparently and making all public records under law available in a timely fashion.

We take seriously our responsibility to review requests appropriately and quickly while preserving the privacy and confidentiality of the people we serve. I’m proud of our record on both privacy and transparency.

Gates Garrity-Rokous

Chief compliance officer Office of University Compliance and Integrity

Ohio State University Columbus

Marcia Lieser Upper Arlington