Alabama University Won't Release Athletic-Department Records To Newspaper

By: Jacksonville State University has refused a newspaper?s request for athletic-department records less than a year after the state attorney general?s office said a request for copies of coaches? contracts should be granted.

The Anniston Star has been seeking the results of the school?s athletic department drug-testing program since April 2007 to review its effectiveness. But the university has denied the request each time, saying it would compromise the identity of student-athletes who tested positive.

Birmingham attorney Gilbert Johnston, who handles public-records law cases, said JSU?s assertion is ?borderline preposterous.?

University President William Meehan referred all questions on the issue to the school?s attorney, Randy Woodrow of Anniston. He has said disclosure of the records could be a violation of federal laws governing medical privacy.

The Star has amended its requests to more general terms to ensure individuals could not be identified, but the school says the sample size would still make it easy to identify individual athletes.

?We understand and appreciate the university?s need to protect medical privacy of these student-athletes,? Star Editor Bob Davis said in a Feb. 20 story. ?We believe the public has a right to know about drug testing conducted by the athletic department of a public university using public funds.?

During the 2006-07 academic year, the university denied a request by the Star for copies of the multi-year contracts of its head coaches. That request was granted four months later, after an attorney general?s opinion that the contracts were public documents.

The Star is requesting the information under the Alabama Open Records Act as part of efforts to determine the effectiveness of the school?s drug-testing program. The university?s handbook states ?every JSU sport is subject to year-round drug testing,? but does not outline any testing procedures, penalties or intervention programs.

Johnston said the school?s grounds for denial aren?t sound.

?Given the way the request for access has been framed ? we didn?t ask for the raw records of all the drug testing and who got it and who got what results; we purposely pulled it way back ? it?s a 10,000-foot view, not a 2-foot view,? he said. ?It is very abstract, the request for records, so they?d be free to redact any information they thought would identify any individual.?

The Star has made informal requests for the same information to Auburn University and the University of Alabama. Auburn denied the request on privacy grounds, while the request to Alabama has gone unanswered.