Emporia State broke law to hide records from public. And it took 18 months to find out | Opinion

Emporia State University funneled secret payments to professors in the wake of breaking tenure agreements and firing 33 faculty members.

It then broke the law trying to cover up what it had done.

That’s the simplest way to explain the findings issued last week in a Kansas Attorney General’s Office report. Kansas Reflector filed a complaint a year and a half ago over the university’s illegal behavior, and it turns out that, yes, ESU did wrong.

You can read about the entire series of unfortunate events in editor Sherman Smith’s story, but here’s a summary. We requested the records on March 1, 2023. Emporia State didn’t acknowledge receipt of the request until March 8 and didn’t respond until March 10, and the university demanded a ridiculous $700 to comply with the request. They broke the law, which required them to comply with the request within three business days.

On March 14, the university reaffirmed that $700 estimate. My column about ESU demanding ransom for public records appeared the next day.

We received the information on April 3, 2023, along with a refund of $87.50 from ESU, with the university saying that $700 estimate was too high. Remember this, as it will be important later. We filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s office on April 13. We checked in with AG Kris Kobach’s office about our complaint in December 2023 and August 2024. We didn’t receive the official findings until Oct. 22.

The one unequivocally good outcome from all this is that attorney Amber Smith’s letter makes it clear that ESU violated Kansas law in delaying its response to Kansas Reflector. That’s unacceptable.

Unfortunately, the letter lets the university off the hook for its ridiculous $700 estimate. An official claimed that fulfilling the request took 11 staff members working through a complex web of computer programs. Smith’s letter claims the actual cost exceeded the estimate.

Pardon my skepticism, but that doesn’t sound plausible.

If you think it took nearly a dozen high-level employees working multiple hours to produce a simple list of people receiving bonuses, I have a bridge in southeast Kansas to sell you.

Recall that Emporia State refunded us $87.50 more than a year ago, saying their estimated cost was too high. They were either not telling the truth to us then, or they weren’t telling the truth to the Kansas attorney general’s office. Either doesn’t sound great.

We’ve just gone through an exhausting campaign season, one in which conservatives made clear their desire for law and order. They want this nation’s laws to be followed, even if it means deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants. OK, then. If voters believe so strongly in adherence to both the letter and spirit of the law, they might examine ESU’s record of following both.

For that matter, the attorney general’s office might want to address complaints regarding the public’s right to know more seriously.

First Amendment attorney Max Kautsch sounded a warning: “Ratifying arbitrary practices, as the AG has done here, may well further empower records’ custodians to do things like charge unreasonable fees or withhold records they shouldn’t.”

The university refused to answer any questions about the story we published last week, so we have no idea how they would respond to questions on the subject. That’s the latest example of the stonewalling we’ve come to expect from President Ken Hush’s administration, which has taken our reporting about the institution as some kind of affront, rather than dedicated journalists doing their jobs.

But just take a look at the evidence. Everything we’ve heard from Emporia State since it started defenestrating professors suggests that the institution wants to exclude the public and pursue a path of utmost secrecy. Even if it means breaking the law.

Those who live and work in Emporia, and proud ESU graduates across the state and nation, have every reason to object.

Clay Wirestone is opinion editor of the nonprofit Kansas Reflector, where this commentary originally appeaered.

This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 5:07 AM.