Emails re: Deadspin (UIUC)

June 10, 2014

Mr. Conor Skelding
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

Re: FOIA Request 14-394

Dear Mr. Skelding:

I write to respond to your Freedom of Information request dated and received in my office on June 3, 2014, in which you requested:

"Any and all emails sent to or by several employees of the University of Illinois's athletics department that include the following key terms:

--"Deadspin"

--"deadspin"

--"deadspin.com"

The employees are:

1. Mike Thomas, Director of Athletics

2. Jason Lener, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director

3. Kent Brown, Associate Athletics Director/Media Relations

4. Derrick Burson, Assistant Athletics Director

5. John Groce, Head Coach (Men's Basketball)

6. Tim Beckman, Head Coach (Football)

7. Mike Bellamy, Assistant Coach (Football)

8. Jennifer Larson, Assistant Athletics Director for Sales & Marketing

9. Karl Feak, Assistant Director of Sports Marketing

Records requested include emails with the key terms in the body, subject line, and to and from fields.

I seek emails dated from January 1, 2008 through the date when this request is processed."

I am writing to invoke an extension of the deadline for responding to the request under the following section(s) of the Act, which allow for additional time when:

140/3(e)(v) the requested records require examination and evaluation by personnel having the necessary competence and discretion to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be revealed only with appropriate deletions;

I am taking the additional five days allowed by law to review information. The revised deadline will now be June 17, 2014.

Sincerely,

Jill Weathers
FOIA Coordinator

On behalf of

Thomas P. Hardy
Executive Director, University Relations

June 17, 2014

Mr. Conor Skelding
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

Re: FOIA Request 14-394

Dear Mr. Skelding:

I write to respond to your Freedom of Information request dated and received in my office on June 3, 2014, in which you requested:

"Any and all emails sent to or by several employees of the University of Illinois's athletics department that include the following key terms:

--"Deadspin"
--"deadspin"
--"deadspin.com"

The employees are:

1. Mike Thomas, Director of Athletics
2. Jason Lener, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director
3. Kent Brown, Associate Athletics Director/Media Relations
4. Derrick Burson, Assistant Athletics Director
5. John Groce, Head Coach (Men's Basketball)
6. Tim Beckman, Head Coach (Football)
7. Mike Bellamy, Assistant Coach (Football)
8. Jennifer Larson, Assistant Athletics Director for Sales & Marketing
9. Karl Feak, Assistant Director of Sports Marketing

Records requested include emails with the key terms in the body, subject line, and to and from fields.

I seek emails dated from January 1, 2008 through the date when this request is processed."

Information responsive to your request is available and attached. These are public documents numbering 96 pages.

Portions of these documents have been redacted pursuant to the following section(s) of the Act:
* 140/7(1)(a) that exempts from disclosure "Information specifically prohibited from disclosure by federal or State law or rules and regulations implementing adopted under federal or State law." The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. §1232g) protects the privacy of student education records and prohibits the release of any information from a student's education record without the consent of the eligible student. Pursuant to this exemption, a student name and identifying information was redacted from the responsive records.
* 140/7(1)(b) that exempts from disclosure "Private information, unless disclosure is required by another provision of this Act, a State or federal law or a court order." This includes personal email address.
* 140/7(1)(c) that exempts from disclosure "Personal information contained within public records, the disclosure of which, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, unless the disclosure is consented to in writing by the individual subjects of the information." This includes personal information, including student information.
* 140/7(1)(f) that exempts from disclosure "Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, memoranda, and other records in which opinions are expressed, or policies or actions are formulated, except that a specific record of relevant portion of a record shall not be exempt when the record is publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body." This includes communications containing drafts, deliberations, opinions, proposed actions and recommendations.

Should you wish to inspect or receive a physical copy of these documents, please call Melanie Kuehn at the phone number below and she will provide you with all necessary details.

You have a right, under the law, to seek a review of this response by the Public Access Counselor (PAC) in the Office of the Attorney General. The PAC may be reached by phone at 217-782-1396, by email to publicaccess@atg.state.il.us, or by postal mail at the Public Access Bureau, 500 S. 2nd Street, Springfield, Illinois 62706. You also have the right to seek judicial review under section 11 of this Act.

If you have questions for our office, please contact 217-333-6400.

Sincerely,

Thomas P. Hardy
Executive Director
and Chief Records Officer