Settlement reached in student reporter’s First Amendment violation case against Ca

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 California State University System (CSU) Board of Trustees.

The trial — which was originally submitted in April— claimed the university failed to disclose public records Wilson requested more than 18 months earlier.

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

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

According to the FAC, Wilson never received the requested records, which led to the filing of the lawsuit in April.

FAC officials say Cal Poly released 236 emails in response to Wilson in July and that 21 emails were held as exempt from disclosure.

Friday’s agreement states that within three months, the university will convene a training session for all staff processing Public Records Act requests for the Cal Poly campus informing them of their obligations under the act. The training will be recorded and posted publicly, according to the FAC.

The agreement also allows Mustang News reporters to meet in person with Cal Poly’s records staff each academic semester for the next three years to discuss the status of open applications, the criteria and processes the staff uses to puts requests on hold for processing and suggestions for override. any practical basis for delaying or denying access to records.

“I am so pleased that Cal Poly has agreed to a settlement, but it should not have taken a lawsuit to assert my right — and the Cal Poly community’s — to this information,” Wilson said in – a press release. “Access to records isn’t just important to journalists like me, it’s important to anyone trying to hold institutions accountable.”

The settlement agreement and other legal documents in this case can be found at FAC website.