Settlement reached in student reporter’s 1st Amendment violation lawsuit against Ca

On By Karl

A settlement has been reached in a months-long lawsuit between Cal Poly Mustang News student reporter Elizabeth Wilson, represented by the First Amendment Coalition (FAC), and the Board of Regents of the California State University (CSU) system.

The case — which is He first applied in April– claimed the university failed to release public records that Wilson requested more than 18 months ago.

“This settlement will remind Cal Poly employees of their duty to the public and ensure they come to the table to improve their processes with students,” Annie Cappetta, legal fellow for the First Amendment Coalition, said in a press release.

The student journalist reportedly filed three public records requests in 2022 while investigating stories about sexual assault on campus, alleged labor violations by Cal Poly student employees and a senior administrator’s failure to respond to sexual harassment and other complaints.

According to the FAC, Wilson never received the requested records, leading to the lawsuit being filed in April.

FAC officials said Cal Poly released 236 emails in response to Wilson in July, and 21 emails were withheld as exempt from disclosure.

Friday’s agreement calls for the university to hold a training session within three months for all staff who process Public Records Act requests for the Cal Poly campus, providing information about their obligations under the law. According to FAC, the training will be recorded and made public.

The agreement also allegedly allows Mustang News reporters to meet in person with Cal Poly’s admissions staff each academic term for the next three years to discuss the status of their open requests, the criteria and processes the staff uses to queue up processing requests, and recommendations for handling them. Any practical basis for delaying or denying access to records.

“I am very pleased that Cal Poly agreed to a settlement, but it should not have required a lawsuit to assert my and the Cal Poly community’s right to this information,” Wilson said in a press release. “Access to records is important not just for journalists like me, but for anyone who wants to hold institutions accountable.”

In this case, the settlement agreement and other legal documents can be found at: FAC website.