3 Enrollment contracts and reports

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) All contracts, memorandums of understanding, and statements of work between the university and 3 Enrollment Marketing since Jan. 1, 2018.

2) All annual presentations or reports from 3 Enrollment Marketing since Jan. 1, 2018 summarizing its work with the university over the prior academic year.

3) All annual presentations/reports/plans from 3 Enrollment Marketing since Jan. 1, 2018 describing recruitment plans and policies for the upcoming academic year.

4) Model summary, validation, or overview documents describing the function and performance of predictive analytics models built for the university by 3 Enrollment Marketing since Jan. 1, 2018. This should include, where available, descriptions of input variables, output scores, thresholds, and accuracy measurements (i.e., AUC).

I ask that all fees be waived as intend to use the requested records to further public understanding of public agencies and not for any commercial purpose. In the event you choose to impose fees, I request a detailed breakdown of the fees, including the hourly wage of each employee involved and an explanation justifying the employee hours required to fulfill the request.

Should you choose to reject this request or redact portions of responsive documents, I ask that you provide a detailed breakdown of the statutory exemptions and associated case law underlying your decision to withhold each/any portions from public review.

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,

Todd Feathers

Hello Alan,

Thank you for your response, but your interpretation of the WV FOIA is incorrect. The law, which you quoted, states very explicitly that:

1) "Every person has a right to inspect or copy any public record"

2) That if a request is properly made, the records custodian must " Furnish copies of the requested information."

Nowhere does the law say that a person must travel in-person to inspect records and, only after doing so, can they obtain copies. I've searched, and haven't found any case law in West Virginia even remotely supporting that interpretation either.

In fact, there's no other public records law in the country that's interpreted the way you suggest. Public records laws, by definition, are about increasing the transparency of government agencies, not making it impossible for people without reliable transportation or access to government offices to obtain copies of public records.

If you disagree, I ask that you provide specific citations to the case or statutory law supporting your claim that the "legal mandate in West Virginia is therefore to provide access for inspection, on site, and an opportunity thereafter to obtain copies."

For what it's worth, I'll add that every other university in West Virginia to which I've submitted identical requests has had no problem responding.

Thank you,
Todd