Richard Maximus Strahan v. University of Massachusetts Boston (SPR 20181060)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords August 1, 2018 SPRlS/1060 Matt Fenlon Public Records Administrator University of Massachusetts - Boston 100 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125-3393 Dear Mr. Fenlon: I have received the petition of Richard Maximu s Strahan appealing the response of the University of Massachusetts Boston (University or UMB) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on July 2, 2018 Mr. Strahan requested any record that establishes that: 1. Any deputized UMB security employee like Donald Baynard and/or Paul Parlon has authority under law to on his own volition to issue any member of the Public a lawful trespass notice pursuant to GL Ch. 266 § 120 to permanently ban that person from entering upon any UMB property in the future. 2. The UMB Chancellor has delegated to some other named UMB employee the authority to ban any member of the Public from entering upon UMB property. Mr. Strahan initially appealed "the refusal of the Chancellor's Office of the University of Massachusetts in Boston to comply or even respond to my 2 July 2018 written request for access to specific Public Records in its possession." The University provided a response on July 26, 2018 and Mr. Strahan objected to this response. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). 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

Matt Fenlon SPR18/1060 Page2 August 1, 2018 It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the spedficity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. Current appeal In its July 26th response the University indicates "[p]lease note that UMass Boston has not refused, rather we have provided Mr. Strahan with the requested document on two separate occasions since June 15th,, (emphasis in original). In a July 26, 2018 email Mr. Strahan explains "[i]n its last email, UMB did not supply the requested Chancellor issued authorization. It only supplies trespass notice issued by a UMB security employee. These attached documents in no way shape or form are responsive to my request for a document issued by the UMB Chancellor that authorizes any low level UMB cop to issue trespass notices to the UMB campus." I find that the University must confirm whether it possesses a record described in Mr. Strahan's request and July 26th email, namely "any document issued by the UMB Chancellor that authorizes UMB cops on their own to issue trespass notices to UMB property." The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii). Conclusion Accordingly, the University is ordered to provide Mr. Strahan a response in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Richard Maximus Strahan