Request By:
Mr. Charles D. Whitlock
Executive Assistant
Eastern Kentucky University
Richmond, Kentucky 40475-0931
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Eric Vore has appealed to the Attorney General under KRS 61.880 concerning the denial of access to certain public records of Eastern Kentucky University. As custodian of the University records, you responded to Mr. Vore's request by letter dated April 20, 1982 advising him that the minutes of the Board of Regents are available for review during regular business hours. You denied access to certain other records which are described by Mr. Vore as follows: "The minutes of the Graduate Council [and] the Graduate Appeals Committee". You stated your reason for the denial as follows:
"The proceedings of the Graduate Council and the record of appeals of Graduate Council decisions are not available for your review. The Open Records Law excludes from public inspection those records which contain information of a personal nature and those the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted by Federal Law or regulation."
"These records contain information of personal nature and are also restricted by the provisions of the Family Education and Privacy Act of 1974, Public Law 93-380."
In his letter of appeal, Mr. Vore states:
"The information requested is clearly subject to statistical analysis and the reasons for student requests can be summarized in general terms. The net result of the refusal is to prohibit serious journalistic investigation of certain significant issues in the field of education.
"In summary, I feel that the information requested, when issued as a statistical and general summary, is not a matter of personal privacy and is covered under the provisions of the Open Records Law. "
Mr. Vore cites KRS 61.878(2) which provides:
"No exemption in this section shall be construed to prohibit disclosure of statistical information not descriptive of any readily identifiable person."
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
First, we conclude that Mr. Vore is requesting statistical information which is not exempt from public inspection under the Open Records Law, KRS 61.870-61.884, provided it exists in compiled form.
In OAG 81-333 (copy enclosed) we dealt with a similar request for statistical information. In that opinion we said as follows:
"In OAG 79-547 we discussed the difference between a request for information and a request for inspection of records and said:
'The purpose of the Open Records Law is not to provide information but to provide access to public records which are not exempt by law.'
"And in OAG 76-375 we said it is not necessary for an agency to make a list of items from its records if such a list does not already exist. When an agency has compiled statistics, the documents containing the statistics should be made available for public inspection and copying; but if no such compilation has been made, a requester cannot require the agency to make one. . . . It is for the agency to decide if and when to create a body of statistical data."
The records discussed in OAG 82-333 contained information of a very private nature but not more so than the records described in this appeal. KRS 164.238(2) mandates that all student academic records shall be confidential with certain exceptions which do not apply here. Academic records are defined as records of a student's academic performance including transcript of grades and other action taken by the institution directly related to academic performance. We have no doubt that the records of the Graduate Council decisions pertaining to individual students are confidential by law. There is no exception for statistical information in KRS 164.283, and this specific statute takes precedence over the general statute, the Open Records Law.
Therefore, it is the opinion of the Attorney General that you properly denied access to the minutes of the Graduate Council and the Graduate Appeals Committee.
A copy of this opinion is being sent to the requester to inform him of our decision and he has the right to challenge it in court as provided by KRS 61.880(5).