A University of Utah student and animal rights activist is taking the U. to court over what he says is an attempt by the university to hide primate research documents behind a $300 document fee.
Jeremy Beckham says his concerns over the treatment and welfare of baboons, macaques and other primates at university labs prompted him to seek documents regarding laboratory protocols for primates. When Beckham, who is also the president of the Utah Primate Freedom Project, filed a request through the Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA), he received two pages out of a 139-page document.
Officials with the University of Utah claim that among the pages are items that are considered "proprietary" and that the university would have to have scientists and attorneys weed out and redact the information. In doing so, officials said they would have to re-compile the information and that Beckham should pay their estimated cost of $300 for services such as legal and technical review and physical redaction, which they said would take over nine hours.
During an appeal to the State Records Committee last September, Beckham was told he had a right under Utah's open records laws to the information, but committee members upheld the university's right to charge $300.
Under Utah law, a government agency has a right to charge a "reasonable fee" to cover the actual cost of segregating private information from public. The committee did note that the law also allows a government agency to waive charges. Although agencies are encouraged to waive charges, the committee noted that the university was not required to do so.
In a letter to the State Records Committee, Beckham wrote that past efforts to obtain information about lab animals, including cats and dogs, were met with similar bills of $737 for a list of dogs and cats acquired over the past six years and $207 for information about two monkeys housed at the university.
"I believe the university is attempting to misuse this statute to block the public's access to information," Beckham said, adding the U. still hasn't detailed their expenses to his satisfaction.
"It's totally arbitrary, and that's the danger I see is that it's totally up to them to come up with the costs," Beckham told the Deseret Morning News.
Advocates for open government records have said the State Records Committee's decision to let the U.'s $300 bill stand could set a dangerous precedent by allowing government agencies to limit public access to information by charging high fees.
In his suit, filed last week in 3rd District Court, Beckham asked the court to take a fresh look at the case and to determine if the University of Utah's bill is considered "reasonable" under GRAMA.
University of Utah spokesman Remi Barron said the university has yet to be served with Beckham's suit and could not comment on the matter.
"It needs to be challenged," said Salt Lake attorney Brian Barnard, who is representing Beckham. "If they allow this to stand, it will essentially gut the GRAMA statute."
Barnard said he questions if the information the university wants to redact is protected, pointing out such information is typically published to federal agencies who fund many research grants. Currently, the university said it plans to redact 79 of the 139-page document.
Beckham and Barnard have also asked the court to have the University of Utah pay for their legal costs if they prevail.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com