Raymond Huling v. University of Massachusetts - President's Office (SPR 20170312)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 21, 2017 SPR17/312 Michelle Goncalves Records Access Officer University of Massachusetts -Amherst Office of the Chancellor 374 Whitmore Building Amherst, MA O1 003 Dear Ms. Goncalves: I have received the petition of Raymond Huling appealing the response of the University of Massachusetts - Amherst (UMass) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Huling requested a copy ofrecords related to the summer dissertation grant managed by the UMass Department of Communication (Department), specifically: 1. Award letters for the full period of the grant program; years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016; 2. Application forms from 2015 and 2016; and 3. Research statements and letters of support. In UMass's March 10, 2017 email response, Mr. Huling was informed that UMass has no application forms, as forms are not used to apply for the grant. Mr. Huling was provided with the UMass website links to the form letters for the awards and the links to the Department's list serve which identifies the items that must be submitted to apply. UMass also informed Mr. Huling that the identities of the grant recipients were being withheld pursuant to 20 U.S.C. § 1232g Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as it operates through Exemption (a). G. L. c. 4, § 7 (26)(a). Mr. Huling appealed UMass's decision to withhold the identities of the grant recipients. Petitions to the Supervisor of Records This office was informed that UMass did not receive a copy of Mr. Huling's petition to the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) requesting an administrative appeal. Mr. Huling is reminded that under the new requirements in the Public Records Law, when petitioning the Supervisor for an appeal, the requester shall provide a copy of such petition to the Records One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Michelle Goncalves SPRl 7/312 Page 2 March 21, 2017 Access Officer (RAO) associated with such petition. 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(h) (2017 ed.). A Public Records Division attorney provided you with a copy of Mr. Huling's petition to assist UMass in responding further to the request. By email on March 21st, Christine Wilda, Associate Chancellor for Compliance at UMass informed a Public Records Division attorney that Mr. Huling was provided with the names of the research grant recipients via email on March 20th. Accordingly, whereas Mr. Huling has been provided with the requested names of the recipients of the research grants, I now consider this appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Raymond Huling (via email)