UW-Oshkosh professor sues to prevent records release to Wisconsin State Journal

A UW-Oshkosh professor recently sued her university and the UW System Board of Regents to prevent them from releasing to the Wisconsin State Journal records relating to an investigation of alleged plagiarism by the professor.

The State Journal requested records Oct. 9 relating to UW-Oshkosh’s investigation into the plagiarism allegations made against UW-Oshkosh English professor Christine Roth. Among the documents requested are the university complaint, an investigator’s report filed by faculty members, a committee report of pre-tenure review and an agreement struck between the university and Roth’s lawyer, Peter Culp of Dempsey, Edgarton, St. Peter, Petak & Rosenfeldt Law Firm.

Wisconsin’s open records law states that government records, which includes those maintained by a public university, are public, while acknowledging specific circumstances when it is appropriate or necessary to withhold certain information. When an agency withholds or redacts information, it must provide an appropriate reason for doing so by applying a “balancing test” to determine whether the harm of releasing the records outweighs the public’s interest in monitoring and evaluating the performance of public officials and employees.

Before releasing records of closed employee misconduct investigations, the law requires a records custodian notify the subject of the records that the records will be released.

Read more: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/uw-oshkosh-professor-sues-to-prevent-records-release-to-wisconsin/article_07f5c1a0-7d54-5b87-975b-635b2548434f.html