All email communication involving members of FCCCC (FC4, District-wide Faculty Council)
| Submitted | Feb. 28, 2018 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: James Brackett
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/1 to 11), I hereby request the following records:
For all work email addresses AND all personal email addresses (hereafter 'All emails') (see Illinois Attorney General's binding Public Access Opinion 16-006 (http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/pdf/opinions/2016/16-006.pdf) that email messages sent or received through public employees' personal email accounts are public records subject to disclosure under FOIA, if the messages pertain to public business) for the period March 1st 2015 to March 1st 2018:
- All emails between any FC4 member (including President and Vice President) in any way related to the business of FC4. (Be aware that the 28 members, President, and Vice President are NOT identical from one year to the next. I am requesting all email communication between all the unique members in the three-year period.)
- Specifically (if not covered above), all emails sent to and from Julius Nadas, Secretary of FC4, to any other member of FC4. In particular agendas and minutes from any meeting involving FC4 representatives.
- All emails between any FC4 member (including President and Vice President) and any member of the Board of Trustees of the City Colleges of Chicago.
- All emails between any FC4 member (including President and Vice President) and the incoming Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, Juan Salgado, before taking over the position AND after taking over the position.
- All emails between any FC4 member (including President and Vice President) and the outgoing Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, Cheryl Hyman, before vacating the position AND after vacating the position.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From:
From: James Reilly <jreilly1@ccc.edu>
Date: Thu, Mar 22, 2018 at 3:48 PM
I am trying to contact James Brackett with questions regarding a recent FOIA request to the City Colleges of Chicago. Can you please provide an email and phone number so that we can facilitate his request. Thank you.
James Reilly
Associate General Counsel
City Colleges of Chicago
226 W. Jackson Blvd, 14th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606
312-553-2540 (Direct)
312-553-2539 (Fax)
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Illinois Freedom of Information Act. request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 28, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: James Brackett
Hello Mr. Reilly,
thank you for following up on my request.
If helpful to reduce the level of burden of the request, I will reduce the scope to the following:
- For work email addresses and personal email addresses (hereafter 'All emails') for the period April 1st 2015 to July 1st 2016 [reduced scope]:
- All emails between FC4 members related to the business of CCC.
- Specifically (if not covered above), all emails sent to and from Julius Nadas, Secretary of FC4, to any other member of FC4. In particular agendas and minutes from any meeting involving FC4 representatives.
- All emails between an FC4 member (including President and Vice President) and the Chair person or Vicechair person of the Board of Trustees of the City Colleges of Chicago [reduced scope].
Does that help?
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: City Colleges of Chicago
James,
Thank you for responding and narrowing the time period requested. However we still need to discuss search terms and the large number of individual accounts involved with your request. Arguably all emails from CCC accounts are related to the business of CCC. Please let me know when we can discuss. I can be reached at 312 553 2540.
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: James Brackett
Hello Mr. Reilly,
I cannot speak on the phone, I am afraid. I realize it would be easier, but it's not possible. However, I am available via email.
To be clear: I am looking for emails between members of the district faculty council in the context of that that body, not all CCC emails. However, I want emails from CCC as well as any emails pertaining to the business of the district faculty council from private accounts (see original request).
If it works better for you, I will start with requesting emails pertaining to the business of the district faculty council sent or received by one of the four officers of the body (per Constitution, Art. VII, Sec. 1 on your website, http://www.ccc.edu/departments/Documents/Faculty%20Council/FC4%20Constitution%20Revision%205-06-09%20v2.pdf): President, Vice President, Secretary, and Chair of Committee A. That should be a very manageable search in the relevant email systems.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: James Brackett
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Illinois Freedom of Information Act. request, "Illinois Freedom of Information Act Request: All email communication involving members of FCCCC (FC4, District-wide Faculty Council)", and originally submitted on Feb. 28, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: City Colleges of Chicago
James,
This presents a challenge not to be able to confer on the phone when we are trying to narrow the issues, but I will try and be clear. We have taken the position that FC4 is not a public body as defined by Illinois law, but rather a private, self-created faculty organization that operates independently, and completely outside the control or jurisdiction of our governing body, the Board of Trustees. If the members of that group are communicating amongst themselves about their own internal FC4 business, then those communications fall outside the reach of Illinois FOIA law. While you refer to the fact that the constitution the organization drafted is posted on the City Colleges' website, that is simply an accommodation to the faculty organization. That courtesy does not translate into declaring this group a public body or that they are transacting public business.
However, you have asked for emails between an FC4 member and the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board. You may be entitled to these communications if they pertain to the transaction of public business and are otherwise not exempt. It would help if you provide one or two search terms because "all" emails from 30+ people to the Board members may be disruptive and time-consuming for our IT Department. Based on your email, I can ask FC4 to provide me with their members for Academic Year 2015-16 ,including the President and Vice-President, and search for email communications with Chair Middleton and Vice-Chair Gardner. Let me know how you want to proceed. Thanks.
Have you thought about contacting FC4 directly and asking them for their agendas and minutes of their meetings? Just a thought.
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: James Brackett
Hello Mr. Reilly,
thank you for your response. There are two different requests for different elements.
1. First request: Records under the Open Meetings Act. You've rejected the request with the rationale that you mention, that it's not an official body. I would ask you to reconsider before I appeal for three reasons. A) The head of the body, the President, is a standing item on the Board's agenda and is de facto recognized as a formal institution within City Colleges. B) The President and Vice President are specifically paid for their work on this body and not teaching. This further substantiates that it's not only a independent group of people who happen to speak with each other. C) The CCC website has a specific place for the body as well as contains the constitution that clearly says it's an advisory body to the Board and the Chancellor.
2. Second request: Email records for employees of CCC during the timeframe they have served on the FC4 body. I request any emails related to the business of City Colleges from work and personal email addresses. Again, the FC4 President and Vice President are both paid specifically to perform the responsibility of serving on this body.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: City Colleges of Chicago
James,
Our position that FC4 is not a public body as defined by Illinois law has been addressed in our April 11th response. Allowing members the courtesy to speak at Board meetings(as can any member of the public), allowing the group to post their constitution on the CCC website, and allowing release time for FC4 meetings does not change their status.
Regarding email communications of FC4 members, they are all CCC employees and their communications pertaining to the transaction of public business are subject to the State FOIA law, if not otherwise exempt. As I indicated in my email to you on April 12th, I can and will request an email search for communications from specific CCC employees to the Chair or Vice-Chair if you provide me with a specific time frame and search terms so that we can manage your request. All emails from all CCC employees who are or were members of FC4 for the last three years would be unduly burdensome, extremely time-consuming, and disruptive to the operation of City Colleges. I renew my request to speak with you by phone so that we can confer and reduce your request to a manageable proportion as required by law.
I continue to work on your organizations other requests. Thanks for your patience.
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: James Brackett
Hello Mr. Reilly,
Thank you for your reply.
Let me reiterate the revised request with more limited scope that I previously sent 3/29.
For all work email addresses and personal email addresses (hereafter 'emails') for the period April 1st 2015 to July 1st 2016:
- emails from the incoming President of FC4 (Jennifer Alexander) related to City Colleges business.
- emails to the incoming President of FC4 (Jennifer Alexander) related to City Colleges business.
- (If not covered above), emails sent to and from Secretary of FC4 (Julius Nadas) involving members of FC4.
- emails between an FC4 member and the Chair person or Vicechair person of the Board of Trustees of the City Colleges of Chicago.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: City Colleges of Chicago
James,
After I received your revised request on April 19, 2018 to conduct a search from April 1, 2015 until July 1, 2016 for all emails to and from Jennifer Alexander related to City Colleges business I communicated that request to our IT Department. The response I received is that after removing duplications there are 6,800 messages in a 713.5 MB file. I have not checked to ascertain which of those emails pertain to the transaction of public business. As I indicated to you on April 12th and again on the 18th CCC emails are subject to the FOIA laws if not otherwise exempt. But your request remains unduly burdensome and unmanageable. I have to ask you again to attempt to narrow your request so that the records you seek can be provided.
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: James Brackett
Hello Mr. Reilly,
thank you for your reply.
Please find a more limited scope.
For all work email addresses and personal email addresses (hereafter 'emails') for the period December 15th 2015 to February 15th 2016:
- emails from the incoming President of FC4 (Jennifer Alexander) related to City Colleges business.
- emails to the incoming President of FC4 (Jennifer Alexander) related to City Colleges business.
- (If not covered above), emails sent to and from Secretary of FC4 (Julius Nadas) involving members of FC4.
Also, please acknowledge that I am not only seeking emails from the City Colleges of Chicago Information Technology systems, but also emails on non-ccc email addresses that have been used to discuss the business of City Colleges.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: James Brackett
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on this Illinois Freedom of Information Act request, originally submitted on February 28, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help.
From: James Brackett
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on this Illinois Freedom of Information Act request, originally submitted on February 28, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: City Colleges of Chicago
James,
Our staff from our IT Department searched for emails to/from Jennifer Alexander for the period from 12/15/2015 thru 2/15/2016. That search generated a total of 806 emails and remains too large for me to review and manage. For the same time period there were 2543 emails to/from Julius Nadas. That request also remains too large to manage.
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: James Brackett
Hello Mr. Reilly,
thank you for your reply.
Please find a more limited scope.
For all work email addresses and personal email addresses (hereafter 'emails') for the period January 15th 2016 to February 10th 2016:
- emails from the President of FC4 (Jennifer Alexander) related to City Colleges business.
Also, please acknowledge that I am not only seeking emails from the City Colleges of Chicago Information Technology systems, but also emails on non-ccc email addresses that have been used to discuss the business of City Colleges.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: City Colleges of Chicago
James,
I will request our IT Department produce Jennifer Alexander emails from Jan 15, 2016 thru Feb 10, 2016. And yes I will request Ms. Alexander produce any emails from her private account that pertain to the transaction of public business during that same time period.
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: James Brackett
I wanted to follow up on this Illinois Freedom of Information Act request. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
James Brackett
From: City Colleges of Chicago
James,
I have this group of emails and I have started reviewing. She has also provided me with a couple of emails from her personal account. I will review all and respond to you.
The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is proprietary, confidential and/or privileged attorney-work product, is intended for a specific individual and purpose and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message or attachments or taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please re-send it to the sender and delete the original from your computer system.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Illinois Freedom of Information Act. request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 28, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Illinois Freedom of Information Act. request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 28, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: City Colleges of Chicago
Hello,
Thank you for writing to City Colleges of Chicago with your request for information pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.
Attached is a letter which responds to your request.
Michelle D. Crawley | Paralegal
Office of the General Counsel
1900 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 3100-40
Chicago, Illinois 60612
Phone: (312) 553-2536 | Email: mcrawley1@ccc.edu<mailto:mcrawley1@ccc.edu>
[CCC_Logo_Jun 2017__CCC horizontal Main]
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
This e-mail transmission and any attachments hereto are the private confidential property of the sender, and the materials are privileged communications, solely for the use, benefit and information of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any other action in reliance on the contents of this transmission is strictly prohibited and may result in legal liability on your part. If you have received this transmission in error please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail.
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