Starship delivery robot reports (University of Illinois at Chicago)

October 10, 2023

Via electronic mail
Jason Koebler
MuckRock News
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

Re: FOIA Request 23-1217

Dear Jason Koebler:

I am responding to your request dated and received in my office on October 3, 2023, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in which you requested:

“1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the university/University Police Department about Starship/Starship robots.

2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Starship delivery robots, including attachments and media.

3) Any emails between the university and other members of the University about or mentioning Starship delivery robots, including attachments and media.

4) Any emails between the university and employees of Starship.

5) Any resident /student complaints about Starship robots or other delivery robots.

6) Any requests for evidence, subpoenas, or other legal requests about Starship.

7) Any video footage or audio given to the university or university police department by Starship

Please search between August 1, 2022 and the time 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 FOIA, which allows for additional time when:

* 140/3(e)(iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and requires an extensive search for the records responsive to it;
* 140/(3)(e)(vi) the request for records cannot be complied with by the public body within the time limits prescribed by paragraph (c) of this Section without unduly burdening or interfering with the operations of the public body;
* 140/3(e)(vii) there is a need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another public body or among two or more components of a public body having a substantial interest in the determination or in the subject matter of the request.

I am taking the additional five days allowed by law to review information. The revised deadline will now be October 17, 2023.

Sincerely,

Kirsten Ruby
Director, External Relations and Communications
and Chief Records Officer

October 17, 2023

Via electronic mail
Jason Koebler
MuckRock News
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

Re: FOIA Request 23-1217

Dear Jason Koebler:

I am responding to your request dated and received in my office on October 3, 2023, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in which you requested:

“1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the university/University Police Department about Starship/Starship robots.

2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Starship delivery robots, including attachments and media.

3) Any emails between the university and other members of the University about or mentioning Starship delivery robots, including attachments and media.

4) Any emails between the university and employees of Starship.

5) Any resident /student complaints about Starship robots or other delivery robots.

6) Any requests for evidence, subpoenas, or other legal requests about Starship.

7) Any video footage or audio given to the university or university police department by Starship

Please search between August 1, 2022 and the time this request is processed.”
Information pertaining to Starship is publicly available online. Please note that 5 ILCS 140/8.5 exempts from copying the following:

* Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the contrary, a public body is not required to copy a public record that is published on the public body's website. The public body shall notify the requester that the public record is available online and direct the requester to the website where the record can be reasonably accessed.

You may access this information using the following link:

*
Dining Services: https://dining.uic.edu/about-us/starship/
A search was conducted and no responsive records could be located to your request for presentation materials, incident reports, complaints, evidence, subpoenas, legal requests, audio, and video.

Your request for emails is unduly burdensome to the University (5 ILCS 140/3(g)). A preliminary search of emails to/from any @uic.edu email address containing the keyword “Starship” from August 1, 2022 to October 5, 2023 has yielded 29,127 emails. Each of these records would need to be reviewed for responsiveness, and further reviewed for any applicable exemption(s) under FOIA. Additionally, many of these records are likely to contain information relating to students, increasing the time required to thoroughly review to protect students’ privacy. Due to workloads affiliated with the primary duties of faculty, limited FOIA personnel and resources, the amount of time and burden required to gather and review potentially responsive records would substantially interfere with the normal conduct of public business.

Pursuant to Section 3(g), we would like to extend to you an opportunity to modify your request to make it more manageable. Common modifications include reducing your time frame, specifying employees or email addresses to search, and providing keywords to search.

Any narrowed request may be submitted to foia@uillinois.edu<mailto:foia@uillinois.edu>.

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 877.299.3642, by email at public.access@ilag.gov<mailto:public.access@ilag.gov> or by postal mail to Leah Bartelt, Public Access Counselor, Office of the Illinois Attorney General, 500 South 2nd Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. 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,

Kirsten Ruby
Director, External Relations and Communications
and Chief Records Officer

October 31, 2023

Via electronic mail

Jason Koebler

MuckRock News

requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

Re: FOIA Request 23-1344

Dear Jason Koebler:

I write to respond to your request dated and received in my office on October 24, 2023, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in which you requested:

“This is a follow up to request number 23-1217:

Please limit the email search to emails sent to or from the UIL-Chicago Police department.”

Information responsive to your request is available and attached. These are public records numbering 9 pages. Portions of these records have been redacted pursuant to the following section(s) of the Act:

* 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 telephone numbers.

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 877.299.3642, by email at public.access@ilag.gov<mailto:public.access@ilag.gov> or by postal mail to Leah Bartelt, Public Access Counselor, Office of the Illinois Attorney General, 500 South 2nd Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. 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,

Kirsten Ruby
Director, External Relations and Communications
and Chief Records Officer