The Chicago Tribune lost in appeals court late last week. The newspaper is seeking student records from the University of Illinois for an investigative story on how the state awards special scholarships to legislators’ families. The ruling did not address the case itself; rather, the court said that a state court should decide the matter:
The appeals court did not address that argument in its decision. Noting that there was a “substantial public interest” in both protecting student privacy and disclosing an admissions scandal, the court only vacated Judge Gottschall’s ruling and directed the case to be dismissed “for want of subject-matter jurisdiction.” A lawyer for the Tribune said it would not appeal Thursday’s ruling but would pursue the litigation in state court.
The case raises interesting questions about how much privacy students deserve at public universities, and whether the interest of taxpayers in understanding how the state awards scholarships to government employees is paramount.
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