Copyright, Associated Press 2008

Cell phone records at issue at OSU

4/17/2008

Nearly 500 Oklahoma State University employees receive extra compensation to cover the cost of private cell phones that can be used for university business without generating records accessible to the public, according to a published report.

The university says that since these telephones are considered private, the public has no right to examine text messages, e-mails and numbers dialed on these devices, The Daily O'Collegian reported Thursday.

OSU President Burns Hargis uses a private Blackberry, so these records aren't accessible either.

Some advocates for government openness say records of public business should be open, regardless of whether the device that created the record is privately owned.

The university said the extra compensation is intended to allow employees the convenience of having just a single cell phone, rather than one for private use and one for university business.

OSU legal officials say that because employees retain ownership of their phones, records produced on the phones should not be available to the public. Open government advocates disagree.

"The whole point of the (open records) law is for our voters to hold our public figures accountable by having access to records that show what kind of job they're doing," said Peter Scheer of the California First Amendment Coalition. "It's pretty clear that if you allow this as an exception, communications on a computer or a cell phone that is personal, then you could have the entire government completely circumvent the sunshine laws."

OSU attorney Doug Price says Scheer's standard is asking too much of public employees. Ownership of the device, not substance of the message, should be the deciding factor when determining whether records are open, he said.

In the case of employee-owned cell phones, the university does not keep any records, he said.

"(The employees) own it; the phone bills go to them; they pay those phone bills," Price said. "In that scenario, that's just simply not a university record."