College pulls sneaky trick in bid to deter student from investigating them
A student was hit with a whopping $84,000 fee to access information about an ongoing investigation at his school.
The student had requested a series of documents from Grand Valley State University in Michigan under the Freedom of Information Act.
These documents related to an ongoing investigation within the school after he filed two complaints against a university administrator.
He hoped the documentation he received as part of the FOI request could strengthen his case. But the school said it would cost $84,000 just to access the information.
The student’s mother, Carrie Uthe, said, “They gave us documentation to prove that breakdown, but it still didn’t make sense.”
Grand Valley State University released a statement WZZM which supported the exorbitant cost of the service.
“Grand Valley followed normal procedure in calculating the fee for this request,” a spokesperson said.
‘The request is very broad and would relate to more than 59,000 emails over a certain period.
“To fulfill the request, a qualified employee would need to search each individual email and attachment to find and redact protected and personal information.”
The school said it would cost $84,000 just to access the information
The student had requested a series of documents from Grand Valley State University in Michigan under the Freedom of Information Act
Under the Freedom of Information Act, any member of the public can request information from federal agencies.
There are no costs associated with applying, but sometimes there may be costs associated with finding the necessary documents.
The student’s mother, Carrie Uthe, said, “They did give us documentation showing that breakdown, but it still didn’t make sense.”
“Our son is just trying to make his voice heard and call out the right people about their behavior, which are bad choices they’ve made.”