FERPA

David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, is quoted in “Would Direct Payments to College Athletes be Public Records?” posted on deseret.com on May 31. The article focuses on direct payments that college athletes will be able to receive from Name Image Likeness endorsements (NIL). Under question is…

David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, is quoted in “Closed-Door Sessions Endure at County, City Meetings” published on nogalesinternational.com on Oct. 13. The article focuses on a closed-door meeting by Arizona’s Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors involving a legal discussion between the county and South32,…

Federal student privacy law has been abused and distorted to deny journalists access to records essential for public safety, a coalition of media and First Amendment organizations told the U.S. Supreme Court Monday, urging justices to accept author Jon Krakauer’s petition in a much-watched freedom-of-information case. Krakauer, the acclaimed author…

Public universities should release records showing how they punish students found liable for committing serious crimes on campus, a coalition of open-government advocates argues in a brief filed with the North Carolina Supreme Court. An amicus brief authored by Brechner Center attorneys and joined by the Student Press Law Center…

Attorneys for the Brechner Center and a coalition of open-government groups are urging Pennsylvania’s highest court to reaffirm that journalists are entitled to view video from school surveillance cameras that capture newsworthy information. A brief filed Wednesday with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court argues that footage from security cameras cannot be…

A surveillance video that captured an altercation between a high-school student and an adult volunteer is a public record that must be turned over to journalists, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Monday, turning aside the school district’s claim that federal privacy law required keeping the footage confidential. In a 3-0…

Confusing federal privacy laws are regularly misapplied to obstruct journalists’ and parents’ access to essential safety information about public schools, the Brechner Center’s Frank LoMonte writes in an opinion column for Education Week magazine. In the March 16 article — “Student Privacy Laws Have Been Distorted (And That’s a Problem)”…

Newsworthy video from school surveillance cameras can’t be withheld from the public on the grounds of student privacy, a group of open-government groups argues in a brief filed with a Pennsylvania appeals court. The brief, authored by the Brechner Center’s Frank LoMonte and David Jadon, supports television journalists from Harrisburg who used their state’s Right-to-Know-Law to request footage of a school-bus security camera that captured an altercation between a parent and a student.