University of Maine EAB data request

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) An up-to-date report from the university's Education Advisory Board (EAB) system documenting undergraduate students' predicted risk scores, broken down in aggregate by the following categories:
- Race
- Gender
- Major
- GPA Group
- Race AND Gender
- Race AND Major
- Race AND Gender AND Major
- Race AND GPA group
- Race AND Gender AND GPA group

2) All predictive model reports and threshold reports provided to the university by EAB as part of the Student Success Collaborative product.

This data is stored in the university's EAB system as part of the Student Success Collaborative tool and can easily be searched and compiled into reports, as demonstrated by the attached example document provided by the University of Houston in response to a similar public records request for data from its EAB system. Please note that I am not requesting any personally identifying information, but rather aggregate data for the aforementioned groups.

I ask that all fees be waived as I am a journalist and I intend to use the requested records to publish articles in the public interest and not for any commercial purpose

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,

Todd Feathers

Hello Tom,

Could you please clarify what you mean by saying the UM system has no responsive records? The University of Maine clearly uses EAB's Navigate system (https://umaine.edu/navigate/) and the reports and data I've requested are readily available through that portal. I've received responsive records to identical requests I've sent to dozens of universities across the country that also use EAB Navigate.

Is the issue here that this request went to the UM System general counsel's office rather than to the Orono campus directly?

Thank you very much for your help,
Todd

Hi Tom,

I'm sorry, I'm still confused. There's no need to create these records--they're reports available through the EAB Navigate portal. Courts at both the state and federal level have ruled that filtering readily available data does not constitute creating a new record. Furthermore, the predictive model and threshold reports are easily downloadable from the EAB portal.

As I mentioned before, I've submitted identical requests to dozens of other universities that use the exact same software and no other institution has had a problem providing responsive documents. If you'd like to provide me a more detailed explanation of the problems the University of Maine is encountering, I'd be happy to walk you through the process.

Thanks,
Todd