FEATURED
Key Takeaways
- Michigan State University's student newspaper, The State News, now offers a free Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) generator form to assist students with public records requests.
- Under Michigan's FOIA, students can request access to various public records generated at the university, including emails, memos, and personnel files, supporting transparency.
- The State News frequently utilizes public records for reporting, although it has faced challenges obtaining certain information from the university's FOIA office.
Michigan State University students can get free help filing public records requests from the administration with the help of the student newspaper.
The State News now offers a Freedom of Information Act generator form on its website, something The College Fix first noticed several weeks ago.
“Under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, you’re entitled to the records of public institutions like universities,” the student newspaper explains. “That means emails, memos, personnel files, and anything else generated at MSU is yours to demand.”
The student newspaper did not respond to a request for comment in the past several weeks on the initiative and the paper’s past dealings with the university.
However, a university spokeswoman said the school “is committed to transparency and complies with the requirements of Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act.”
“University Communications values its professional relationship with the journalists of the State News and their continued efforts to inform readers and the MSU community,” spokeswoman Amber McCann told The Fix via email.
She said the university FOIA office handled 1,111 requests in 2024.
While the student newspaper did not respond to The Fix, it does regularly uses public records requests in its reporting. “At the State News, we make hundreds every year,” the newspaper said.
In May of this year, the student newspaper published a story about police misconduct on campus, based on “nearly two dozen Freedom of Information Act Requests.”
That same month, it published a story about harassment allegations against a professor. However, the student newspaper reported problems receiving some information from MSU, including the identity of two professors accused of sexual harassment. “The State News requested an unredacted copy from MSU, but the university’s FOIA office declined to provide one, saying the content was privileged,” the student newspaper reported.
Also in May, the student newspaper used public records to show that MSU trustees “rubber stamp” research agreements that contain conflicts of interest.
The editor of a Michigan-based news site said it is a “great thing” when students learn about public records requests.
“It’s scary how little the state is keeping track of, and scarier still how we can’t know some of the most important things going on in the state’s government.” Mark Naida, managing editor of The Michigan Enjoyer, told The Fix on a phone call. “At the Michigan Enjoyer we get billed for thousands of dollars for the FOIA requests we do, which is basically the state’s way to tell us to knock it off.”
“Figuring out how to file a FOIA isn’t very hard, but removing that barrier from people is a great thing to do.” Mark said. “To have young people learn that FOIA process, I think is great, because oftentimes the investigative reporters at different outlets tend to be older, they kinda know where the bodies are buried and when the reports come out, but the younger you can get tapped into those sorts of things the better journalism you can do.”
The public, Naida told The Fix, has a “right to know” how their institutions operate.
