Eastern Kentucky University officials are addressing reports regarding the use of personal emails for school business. In a statement, they say internal emails among high-ranking school officials and the former board chair regarding a change in athletic conference affiliation did not constitute an open records violation. The matter involves electronic conversations before EKU decided to leave the Ohio Valley Conference and join the ASUN Conference. The OVC has sued the Richmond school over how EKU left the OVC and the school has countersued.
The conversations were carried out through personal email exchanges. Amye Bensenhaver is a retired
Kentucky assistant attorney general who specializes in open records law. While saying it may not be open records, she said it is public records related.
“We cannot permit public officials and employees to avoid public scrutiny by using private devices and accounts to conduct the public’s business. So, the only reason this is somewhat mitigated in EKU’s case is there is, I have to acknowledge some confusion in the state of the law,” said Bensenhaver.
Bensenhaver said that involves Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s interpretation of the law.
In its statement, EKU said there were no official and final University decisions, policies, or acts communicated through a personal email account. Bensenhaver noted background discussions are precisely why the open records law assures public disclosure.
“It’s not just about the action that they take, leaving the OVC, not leaving the OVC, whatever, what league they should go to. It’s not just the final action that they take. It’s what considerations prompted that final decision. How they reached those conclusions,” said Bensenhaver.
The university said it will review email policies to assure clarity for employees and the public on the definition of business and personal communications. The status of a one million dollar exit penalty, at the heart of the OVC suit, is still being litigated in court.
Here is EKU's statement:
Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) has complied with all open records requests and is fully committed to governmental transparency. While the personal email exchange mentioned open records laws, that email would have met a well-recognized exception to the Open Records Act and would not have been produced in response to any open records request, regardless of if it happened on EKU email or any other email account used by EKU officials. EKU voluntarily produced the personal emails when they were requested in litigation. This matter represents a common document dispute in litigation. This is not an open records issue.
There were no official and final University decisions, policies, or acts communicated through a personal email account, and the agreement and final decision to join the ASUN conference was approved by the Board of Regents at a public meeting.
As part of our standard practice, the University updates policies to reflect issues that require additional clarification. We will review our email policies to ensure there is the utmost clarity for our employees and the public on the definition of business communication versus personal communications.
