After two years and repeated public records denials, a national journalism award has recognized the T&C and previous staff member Lindsey Hobbs’ efforts to effectively cover public safety at Otterbein.
The T&C and Lindsey Hobbs received the Betty Gage Holland award for excellence in college journalism last Thursday.
The award recognized the paper for a series about disclosure of public police records on a private college campus.
The Holland Award is sponsored by the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and is one of the most prestigious awards available for college journalists.
The T&C series reported on the university’s transition from a security force to a police department in 2011 and the restriction of public information.
The T&C challenged the university to provide public records in accordance with state laws.
In October of 2012, Robert Gatti, Otterbein’s vice president and dean for Student Affairs, responded to the articles by stating that the limitation of the police records was in the best interest of the students, helping to protect their privacy.
As this situation has continued, the T&C has received support and encouragement from Randy Ludlow of the Columbus Dispatch, Mark Horvit of Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc., the late Jeff Donahue of This Week Community News and Frank LoMonte of the Student Press Law Center.
“(Hobbs) and her reporters have spotlighted crucial shortcomings in America’s transparency laws, enabling private colleges to exercise state police powers while evading public accountability,” LoMonte said in the press release issued by the University of Georgia.
As is stands now, the T&C is continuing to press the university to change its policies and is working in conjunction with the SPLC to pursue legal options.
Otterbein has continued to refuse requests for police records.
Last week, Otterbein student and Otterbein360.com staff writer Josh Overholser was denied access to an incident report from Otterbein police department regarding a public indecency complaint.
Disclosure of public records is an important means of ensuring that university students can have faith in the law enforcement system. Students deserve information about campus safety.
While the Holland Award makes special mention of Lindsey Hobbs, this has been a team effort. Mike Cirelli, Katie Taggart, Evan Matsumoto, Lindsay Paulsen, Jeremy Morgan, AnaJaye’ Diggs, Turp Ricketts and Josh Overholser have all contributed to this project.
Despite the T&C’s upcoming transition to a magazine supplemented by the daily website Otterbein360.com, we remain committed to seeking safety information to better inform the campus community.
