The University of Michigan, often simply referred to as "Michigan," is a public research university in Ann Arbor. | Wikimedia Commons
The University of Michigan, often simply referred to as "Michigan," is a public research university in Ann Arbor. | Wikimedia Commons
In trying to discover what Gov. Gretchen Whitmer means by the "best science" when discussing COVID-19, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit against the University of Michigan when it allegedly violated state open records law.
The lawsuit, which involves a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in December, requests information from the university that the governor refers to as the best "science and data," according to Michigan Capitol Confidential. While the governor's emails are exempt from FOIA law, the University of Michigan's emails are not.
The lawsuit challenges the university's transparency.
"In a document request sent to U-M on May 13, the Mackinac Center sought copies of any correspondence between three specific university officials and anyone with a state government email address. A subsequent request, filed on May 27, asked for all correspondence to or from the same officials concerning the Michigan Safe Start Plan," Tom Gantert of Michigan Capitol Confidential reported. "In its response, the university cited the 'frank communications' exemption in the FOIA law. In doing so, it withheld a significant amount of documents entirely and subjected others to extensive redactions, blocking out portions of text."
But the Mackinac Center said the "frank communications" exemption was only applicable under specific conditions that had not been met.
In the lawsuit, the University of Michigan provided the Mackinac Center with 155 pages of documents. But those pages didn't include useful insights into what the university was providing state officials with that related to Michigan's coronavirus policy.
“We are baffled that the Mackinac Center would file a lawsuit in this matter,” University of Michigan Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in an email, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential. “In response to the Mackinac Center’s FOIA appeal, the university provided 224 pages of documents with very modest redactions -- mostly of email addresses for security purposes -- perhaps totaling five pages. That is in addition to the 155 pages of documents provided in the university’s initial response. The university will vigorously defend the integrity of our FOIA process in the court of claims.”
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