Michigan State University is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. | Wikimedia Commons
Michigan State University is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. | Wikimedia Commons
In December, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit against Michigan State University (MSU) for failing to provide documents about a controversial firing at the university.
When asked for the documents, MSU originally told the Mackinac Center that it would take six hours of staff time to procure them. Six months later, the Center still does not have access to the documents. The documents in question are email correspondences on the firing of Dr. Stephen Hsu, who was accused of publishing work and studies that were racist and contained troubling views on eugenics.
Steve Delie, the Center’s policy lead on transparency and open government, told the Mackinac Center, “The public deserves to have expedient access to public records. We have waited five months for a request that should have taken less than 20 hours to produce. When government entities keep making these kinds of delays, they’re not working diligently to respond to the public’s requests.”
The Mackinac Center is not a stranger to filing lawsuits to obtain information under the Freedom of Information Act. Earlier in 2020 they did battle in court with the University of Michigan and have also been in court to obtain information from the Michigan state government.
Alerts Sign-up