Records: University president fields questions Continued from page 1A notepads. The idea was to test the school’s re action to a student requesting budget documents, crime reports, utility bills, travel expenses or staff meeting min utes, among other requests. The University handed over seven of 10 records requested, often in only a matter of minutes and, to date, all without charge. In fact, the Emerald was not denied any request. But when the reporters asked for Frohnmayer’s salary, docu ments outlining revenue from paid admission at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Athletics Depart ment’s contract with the Eugene Police Department for security at-home foot ball games and travel ex penses from Interim Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Charles Martinez’s trip to Georgia, they were told to put the request in writing. The Emerald was told Friday that no documents exist regarding expenses from Martinez’s Georgia trip. As of Sunday at 8 p.m., the records from the other three requests were not received. The museum e-mailed the wrong records, but they weren’t attached in the e-mail. The reporter wrote back that the information hadn’t been at tached and that the description of the information wasn’t what she asked for. She hasn’t yet heard back. Frohnmayer told the Emerald that he was impressed that the University released most of the records immediately. “If you’re getting five-minute com pliance here, that’s really pretty good, compared to public agencies that I know around the state in open govern ment,” Frohnmayer said. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported Frohnmayer’s total compensation package in a compari son to other university presidents in the nation. The Emerald on Nov. 17 re ported Frohnmayer’s compensation package after a public records request. The Oregonian also reported his salary earlier this term. But when Emerald news reporter Emily Smith went to Frohnmayer’s of fice at 11:38 a.m. on Nov. 14 to request his salary as part of the audit, she left empty-handed. Nobody told her she couldn’t have the records. Instead, she was referred to General Counsel to the University Melinda Grier’s office, where she attempted unsuccessfully several times over the next two days to make contact with Grier. She was told to submit a written request, which she did. Nobody from Grier’s office has con tacted her about that request 20 days after it was made. University spokeswoman Pauline Austin said on Friday that she wasn’t sure if anyone was even aware of bmith s request. Grier said in an e-mail to the Emerald that her office tries to respond to records re quests prompdy. “However, the time it takes to respond depends on the nature of the request, the workload in our office and the workload in the office or offices where the docu ments requested are locat ed,” the e-mail states. “This fall our workload has been extremely heavy. Sometimes we are not able to provide estimates and doc uments as quickly as we would like, and we regret that.” Ken Goe, an Oregonian sports writer, said he’s been dealing with the University regarding records requests for many years and has seen a drop in the speedi ness of responses since Gri er took over records re quests. Portland State University and Oregon State University are much easier to deal with than Gri er and the University, he said.“She doesn't always necessarily say no — she just drags her heels and drags her heels and drags her heels,” Goe said. Frohnmayer said many of Goe’s requests focus on personnel mat ters. He added that Grier’s office is “swamped” in work, but “Melinda’s very conscientious about her obligations under the law.” He also said that her office is “the one that has the greatest responsibility not to screw up. So I’m not totally sur prised that there’s a desire to be very careful.” Frohnmayer said he’s not surprised that the University didn’t immediately provide all of the records, citing several reasons that may contribute to an in stitution’s inability to provide all of the records immediately: The people first approached may not be the custodians of the records, public officials may need time to ensure the records are ac curate and meet the request and they may be concerned about violating pri vacy laws by releasing records. He also said officials may have secu rity concerns in a post Sept. 11 world. “There are lots of things that in post 9-11, pre-9-11 would have seemed very innocuous, but people are in a very dif ferent frame of mind,” he said. “Grant ed some of that may even seem to ap proach paranoia, but it’s not unreasonable in terms of how some people have been urged to react in terms of those kinds of issues.” Frohnmayer also said various feder al and state laws protect the privacy of students, faculty and staff and restrict which records can be released. He said the University has insisted on having a general counsel on cam pus in case public officials have questions about which records can be released. “If there’s a question about it, peo ple want to have the comfort of con sulting legal counsel,” he said. In the past, the University has at tended a conterence put on by the Oregon Attorney Gen eral’s Office every year or two years that cover public records laws, Frohnmayer said. He said he’s sure new em ployees are trained in com plying with student records policies, in particular, but “that’s more by way of what you can’t disclose than what you can and should.” He said the Emerald’s audit doesn’t suggest to him that there’s a training deficit, especially in light of other areas that require training. “If there were a persistent violator or you had the door slammed in your face, that would indicated training would be needed,” he said. “Again, based on a scan, you haven’t persuad ed me that the University is seriously deficient in something that indicates a systematic or even a careless inatten tion to the law.” Contact the news editors at mcnniff@dailyemerald.com & jpaben@ daily emerald, com News reporters Kelly Brown, Chris Hagan and Emily Smith contributed to this report DAVE FROHNMAYER UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT MELINDA GRIER GENERAL COUNSEL NOW SERVING CHET JEVON BAYOU BBQL EPEE POOL TILL 10PM (TO CLOSE SUN & MON) $7.00 CAP BOMBS $2.25 PABST $5.75 DOUBLE WELLS $5.50 LONG ISLANDS Tuesday $2.25 Sushi Polls KITCHEN HOURS 11:30 AM-2:00 AM SEVEN DAYS A WEEK Expanded brunch menu 65 years old and generally healthy • Have had 2 to 6 migraines per month for the past 3 months • Typically have moderate or severe migraines that begin with mild pain This study requires 3 office visits and up to 3 follow-up phone calls over the course of treating 4 migraine attacks. 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