Lisa Ducharme v. Westfield State University (SPR 20180296)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 15, 2018 SPRlS/296 Tricia M. Oliver Director of Campus Communication Westfield State University 3 3 3 Western A venue Westfield, MA O1 086 Dear Ms. Oliver: I have received your petition on behalf of Westfield State University (University) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ). As required by law, the University furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. In a request, Lisa Ducharme sought "[a]ll emails dated between January 1, 2015 to February 12, 2018, that contain 'Lisa Ducharme' (or Lisa but only need the ones that pertain to Lisa Ducharme) or 'veteran', or 'military, or 'equity review, or 'Excellence Center, or 'Veteran Center or 'Student Success Coordinator', or 'Student Recruitment Coordinator', sent and received by Shelley Tinkham and any of the following individuals: Parviz Ansari, Brent Bean, Rafael Bones (former employee), Erica Broman, Dominque Chapman, Donald 'Buzz' Hoagland, Larry Johnson (former employee), Marsha Marotta, Diane Prusank, Stefanie Sanchez, Evelyn Soucie, Christina Swaidan, Jessica Tansey, and Jalisa Williams." Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; 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

Ms. Tricia M. Oliver SPR18/296 Page2 March 15, 2018 (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current petition Based on a conversation with a member of the Public Records Division staff, it is my understanding that the University has come to an agreement with Ms. Ducharme on how to provide the responsive records. Conclusion Given that the University is working with Ms. Ducharme to provide her with the responsive records, it is unnecessary for me to opine on this petition. Ms. Ducharme may appeal the substantive nature of the response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Lisa Ducharme