When University Public Records Officer Elizabeth Denecke walked into her Johnson Hall office for her first day of work on Oct. 11, dozens of backlogged records requests lay waiting for her keen attention.
Since the June 1 creation of the University’s Office of Public Records, the office’s staff members have expedited the process by which the institution makes its internal information available to the public. With the office’s new autonomy, which moved out from under the Office of the General Counsel, Denecke tries to ensure that the office responds to requesters in as little time as possible, per the wishes of University President Richard Lariviere.
“I recall there being about 30 cases backlogged … and we have got that whittled down to about half,” Denecke said. “Generally, the president wants the University to be able to be more responsive, and that is why he has funded this office.”
As an appendage of the Office of the General Counsel, the records office’s affairs were handled in tandem with the other duties of the office’s staff, creating conflicts and slowing down the entire process. With the creation of Denecke’s new round-the-clock position, University administrators were hopeful that turnaround time for requests would be significantly decreased.
“There have been some concerns about the speed at which records requests were handled,” Tim Gleason, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, said. “It was unrealistic to expect that such a large volume of requests could be handled by someone who is not in a full-time position.”
Though not explicitly stated by University officials, some of the loudest calls for increased transparency and University administration accountability relating to public records came in the wake of last year’s $2.3 million buyout with former Athletic Director Mike Bellotti. The fact that a written contract did not exist between Bellotti and the University was made even more controversial when The Register-Guard revealed it had requested Bellotti’s contract as early as June 25, 2009. After the ordeal, Lariviere admitted the University’s actions conflicted with Oregon open records law and pledged to improve the institution’s business practices, including how it responds to record requests.
According to a May 28 University press release, Lariviere accorded the new office the task of managing and processing the 125 to 150 formal records requests the University receives annually. Denecke said the sheer amount of requests is further complicated by the fact that the applications often come in sporadically, sometimes over a period of just a few days.
“I was so excited; I felt like we had really made some progress,” she said, “and then we got six requests in two days.”
Since requests can involve information in a multitude of different locations and offices, Denecke stressed the importance of requestors being as definitive and explicit as possible when describing the documents they seek. To those submitting records requests, Denecke advised that searchers be very specific about what documents they’re trying to locate and what exactly they’re asking for.
“Learn what is it you are looking for,” Denecke said.
One factor working in the records officer’s favor is that processing time and costs decrease significantly once a particular document is released, because the searching and redaction processes are already completed.
“There are some (documents) that are commonly requested,” Denecke said. “And because we don’t have to go through the redaction process (again) … this makes them less expensive to produce.”
The job description for Denecke’s position stated that the new employee must be “responsible for the effective, timely and thorough compliance with the public records law and managing, processing and completing all public records requests submitted to the University of Oregon.”
This necessitated a records officer with an extensive understanding of public records law, as well as with prior experience in reviewing, redacting and preparing university documents.
Denecke has practiced law in Oregon since 1981. According to Denecke’s resume submitted to the Office of the President, which is itself a public record, the former attorney provided legal advice to U.S. colleges in the past on matters of federal education privacy law, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Denecke’s resume also boasts nine years of experience representing public universities at the Oregon Attorney General’s Office, and she did private sector work at the law firm Miller Nash LLP in Portland.
“(Denecke) is a practicing attorney and has worked with the (state Department of Justice),” University spokesperson Phil Weiler said. “She understands this business very well.”
Executive Assistant Brian Whalen joins Denecke in the records office, and Denecke said she feels confident that she and Whalen make up enough of a staff to handle the day-to-day workload.
“Certainly we will do better than one-and-a-tenth people did before,” Denecke said.
Even with the two-person staff working at full-tilt, Whalen said the office is still working through a backlog on top of constantly receiving new requests.
“We are trying to get through the backlog,” Whalen said, “(but) we are getting new requests basically every day.”
Much of Denecke’s work is done out of a commitment to transparency and accountability — something her office views with the utmost importance.
“There is a commitment to provide information about the broader community about what the University does; this is a function of being accountable,” Denecke said. “Accountability is part of my mission in this office … that is why I am here.”
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University’s public records officer fulfills hopes of creating transparency
Daily Emerald
November 17, 2010
Ivar Vong
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