Daily Camera seeks a review of Open Records Act ruling

Boulder’s Daily Camera newspaper is seeking a review of a district court ruling that found that University of Colorado regents could refuse to disclose the names and applications of finalists for the university president’s job in 2019.

Thursday’s petition asks the state Supreme Court to determine who is considered a finalist for chief executive jobs not only at the university but at other state and local government entities under the Colorado Open Records Act. The act requires that a finalist’s identity must be publicly disclosed at least 14 days before a job offer is made. It also allows public access to records submitted by finalists.

The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition reported on the newspaper’s appeal.

The Daily Camera sued in 2019, seeking the names of six finalists interviewed by regents in CU’s search for a new system president. Mark Kennedy, a former president of the University of North Dakota who got the job, was the only candidate publicly identified by the university.

In 2020, a Denver District Court judge ruled in favor of the Daily Camera. That finding was overturned in March by a Court of Appeals panel that found governmental entities can determine who is a “finalist.”

A dissenting judge wrote that the opinion allows the university and other entities to “manipulate their procedures to shield information from disclosure in spite of the policies served by CORA” and Colorado’s Open Meetings Law.

The Daily Camera argues that the opinion “will have a huge adverse impact on the transparency of hiring processes for” university presidents, school superintendents, police chiefs, city managers, county administrators and other chief executive officer positions statewide.