https://illinoisfoia.org/public-bodies/chicago-state-university/ 2015-12-15T00:00:00Z https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2015-pac-37664/ 2015-12-15T00:00:00Z

The requester, a university professor, sought certain records the university is required to maintain, and the university never responded at all, ignoring the Public Access Bureau's follow-up letters as well. The Public Access Counselor held that the university's total silence constituted a denial under FOIA, violating the requirement to comply, extend, or deny within five business days. The university was directed to produce all responsive records, subject only to permissible redactions of priva

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2015-pac-37849/ 2015-09-11T00:00:00Z

The requester, a labor union representative, sought records concerning which employment positions were included in or excluded from collective bargaining agreements, and the university neither complied with, denied, nor properly extended the deadline for the request within the required five business days. The Public Access Counselor held that the university's eventual partial response, sent only after the requester followed up for months, did not cure its initial failure to timely respond, and t

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2014-pac-28539/ 2014-07-01T00:00:00Z

The requester sought records showing how much money was collected during a university's homecoming dance and how those funds were handled. The university denied the request, arguing the records belonged to its Student Government Association, which it claimed was not a "public body" subject to FOIA. The PAC held that this argument was irrelevant, because the records were in the university's possession and control—held in a university-controlled account and overseen by university staff—and therefo

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2013-pac-23495/ 2013-06-04T00:00:00Z

The requester, a journalist, sought several years of travel and credit-card expense records for a public university's board members and president, later amending the request to broaden its scope, and the university never responded to either version despite repeated follow-up inquiries from the Public Access Counselor. The Public Access Counselor held that the university's silence on the amended request constituted a denial under FOIA, since the requester had explicitly superseded his original re

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2011-pac-17006/ 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought the names of an incoming freshman class and of students who graduated or had not yet graduated years later, and a university withheld the names as protected by federal student-privacy law and as personal information. The Public Access Counselor held that the requested directory-type information was not shielded by federal privacy law, did not qualify as private or personal information under FOIA, and that the university could not treat the reporter's r