Portions of OU papers blacked out

Huge chunks of documents detailing violations that led to two players being dismissed from the University of Oklahoma football team were blacked out before being released by the university this week.

School officials cited federal student privacy laws that require them to withhold information that might identify specific students. But an open-records expert said the law is being interpreted too broadly and should be challenged.

Quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn were dismissed from the team after an investigation determined two players received pay for work they did not do at a Norman car dealership.

A letter from OU legal counsel Amanda Miller cites the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which prohibits schools from releasing educational records that identify individual students.

Because the incident received so much media attention, school officials had to be more careful about what they released, Miller's letter stated.

"The law requires the university also to take into consideration not only the notoriety of the event and individual student athlete, but also others' knowledge of the facts and circumstances as they apply to the involved individuals," the letter states.

In some cases, whole pages are blacked out from a summary of the investigation that led to the players' dismissal.

Level of secrecy challenged
Miller points to an opinion from the U.S. Education Department's Family Policy Compliance Office, requiring the school not to release information if it could be traced back to the students -- even if the records don't include the students names or other obvious identifying information.

Mike Hiestand, a legal consultant for the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va., said the federal government's interpretation is requiring a level of secrecy that may go too far.

"The Department of Education interprets FERPA unbelievably broadly," Hiestand said. "This has been a problem in getting information about other high-profile cases, especially involving student athletes."

If OU officials ignored the advice, they could have their federal funding pulled. But Hiestand said the courts have overturned the U.S. Education Department's broad interpretation of the law in the past.

"It's an issue that's ripe for litigation because on its face FERPA does not say they can't release it," Hiestand said. "This may be another instance where they are wrong, but until they are challenged, I don't blame the school for relying on the Department of Education."