State ex rel. James v. Ohio State University
Ohio Supreme Court
637 N.E.2d 911, 70 Ohio St. 3d 168 (1994)
- Written by Jennifer Flinn, JD
Facts
William James (plaintiff) was an assistant professor at Ohio State University (the university) (defendant). Under Ohio’s open-records law, James sought other professors’ tenure and promotion files. The Ohio law contained no exception for the records sought by James. The university refused to provide the files of other employees and provided James’s files to him after redacting the identity of those who evaluated James’s work. The university claimed that state law justified redacting the evaluators’ identities and that full disclosure would violate the university’s right to academic freedom. James filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Ohio Supreme Court, seeking to compel the release of the records requested.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Wright, J.)
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