Transparency Committee votes to waive fees for student press.

The UO Senate TC charge and membership is here. The committee met this morning. Reporters from the Register Guard, Daily Emerald, and the Commentator were present and voiced their opinion that the public records process at UO was not functioning well, that the fees were discouraging legitimate public inquiry, and that the delays were excessive.

The committee then voted 3 to 0 to recommend that the administration adopt a procedure with a presumption that public records fees should be waived for the Daily Emerald, Oregon Commentator, Insurgent, and other student publications, within reason. STC recommendations are only advisory, the administration makes the decisions.

I will post a link to the meeting minutes when they have been approved and posted on the Senate website. There should be another meeting in 2-3 weeks, and also a meeting of Dave Hubin’s PR Admin Advisory Group. Stay tuned. 2/15/2013.