Editor's note: University of Maryland student journalists Danielle Lama and Alexandra Moe won their battle for information from the school about sexual assaults on campus. The D.C. Pro chapter helped them with the public-records fees. Lama filed this report.
By Danielle Lama
The University of Maryland administration has disciplined four students in the past 10 years for sexual assault despite national statistics showing that nearly one in five female students are sexually assaulted while at college. One of the four disciplined students was former Terrapins starting quarterback Joel Statham.
This story, which revealed the huge disconnect between the amount of sexual assaults that occur and the number of people who are held accountable, was in part made possible by the D.C. Pro chapter, which donated $122 to help pay the administration’s $342.88 fee to get the records.
This story was initiated by a University of Maryland radio report called “Out of the Shadows,” and further pursued by Capital News Service student journalist Alexandra Moe, following the report.
In March of 2010, Moe requested the last 10 years of records regarding sexual offense violations from the Office of Student Conduct. This came after a Maryland Attorney General's office opinion (sparked by “Out of the Shadows”) gave public access to certain parts of administrative records regarding sexual assault.
More specifically, the opinion, requested by then-Del. William A. Bronrott, said that under the Maryland Public Information Act, if “a student has violated University policies or rules concerning a matter related to sexual abuse in the form of forcible sexual offense, statutory rape, or incest, the student’s identity is subject to disclosure under PIA” as well as the disciplinary proceedings.
In response to Moe’s request, the Office of Student Conduct's director, John Zacker, wrote that the records would be released for a fee of $342.88 to “locate, retrieve, review, prepare, redact confidential information and copy the responsive documents,” along with a 25-cent-per-page copying fee.
Moe responded with a fee waiver request, citing that she could not afford the estimated fee as a student and that the records were pertinent to the public interest. Both requests were denied.
Zacker argued that as a journalist working on behalf of Capital News Service, Moe could not claim to be an individual student unable to pay the fee. He also argued that even though she claimed the records were “of a great public interest,” that did not account for the broad request.
I had a meeting with Zacker on Feb. 17, in which all verbal requests for a fee reduction were denied as well.
After coming to terms with the fact that the administration would not waive the fee, I raised about $220 by asking for donations from journalism faculty. I then contacted D.C. Pro President Andy Schotz to explain my situation and look to SPJ for some help.
On March 8, I received a check from the D.C. Pro chapter that covered the balance.
I filed my request with the Office of Student Conduct on Feb. 24 and received the records on March 28.
For the $342.88 fee, the Office of Student Conduct gave me a grand total of five pieces of paper with four names. The protected information was redacted electronically, leaving only the four mens’ identities, that they had committed a sexual assault, the disciplinary action handed down by the Office of Student Conduct and the date that they received the punishment.
From there, I began setting up my interviews and really putting the story together (on camera). I interviewed the director of the Office of Student Conduct, the director of the University’s Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program (SARPP), the campus police chief and three sexual assault victims. All four men identified in the records could not be reached for comment.
The broadcast version of this story aired on Capital News Service TV on April 14. A story based on my broadcast was printed on the front page of the Diamondback on April 18.