Monday, January 6, 2025

Utah State admin use Signal to bypass open records laws, lawsuit alleges

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2025/01/06/utah-state-admin-use-signal-bypass/?utm_source=The+NightCap&utm_campaign=4fcd92189a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_06_09_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4fcd92189a-218709093

USU leaders use messaging app to bypass public records laws, fired employee alleges in lawsuit

The allegation came to light in a complaint filed by the university's former deputy athletic director.

Fired Utah State University deputy athletics director Jerry Bovee alleges two of his ex-bosses — the athletic director and the university's president — have been using a messaging app that automatically deletes conversations to subvert the state's open records laws.

It's a small detail in an 8-page lawsuit, one of two Bovee filed late last month against his former employer. If true, though, it represents a big problem, said David C. Reymann, a media law attorney.

Public officials are supposed to retain records for a long enough period that the public can "meaningfully access them when issues come to light," Reymann said. This time frame varies per record but is typically a matter of years.

According to the lawsuit, USU athletic director Diana Sabau asked Bovee and other employees in March to download the messaging app, called Signal. Bovee's lawsuit alleges that messages sent through the app would delete "at the end of each day," and states that Sabau recommended the app because she could "'have more candid conversations' that could not be discovered in an open records request."

Signal is a free-to-use, end-to-end encrypted messaging app that allows a user to set a retention schedule for messages — deleting them forever anywhere from seconds to weeks after they're read.

The lawsuit alleges that Sabau and "the President of USU used [the app] often."

"This is behavior that's designed to prevent the public from seeing what's going on in their public institutions," Reymann said. "And that's unbelievably troubling, if that's true."

On Dec. 27, Bovee filed two related lawsuits against Utah State University. One alleged that Sabau was "hostile" toward him and that the university fired him in July after he reported multiple policy violations.

Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune Jerry Bovee, then the athletics director at Weber State University, speaks with reporters at Vivint Smart Home Arena on July 21, 2016. Bovee has filed a lawsuit against Utah State and athletics director Diana Sabua in the wake of his firing last July.

The second lawsuit, which contains the allegation that officials were using Signal, alleges the university improperly denied Bovee access to open records concerning the formal grievance he filed against the university in August, contesting his termination.

Bovee, through an attorney, declined to comment Friday.

Utah State University spokesperson Amanda DeRito told The Salt Lake Tribune in a statement that "Signal is ubiquitous and widely used by universities for secure communications to prevent hacking."

The statement added that the university "takes great care to ensure all communication methods are used in adherence with Utah public records laws."

"We look forward to resolving this case in litigation and continuing to focus on our student-athletes and the success of our athletics programs," it continued.

As for Bovee's allegations in his other lawsuit, the university released a statement saying it "stands by its employment decisions and disputes Mr. Bovee's presentation of events."

New app, old problem

This specific open records issue may be born out of relatively new technology, but Reymann said Friday that the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) has already dealt with this issue — whether officials are communicating via personal email addresses, on Snapchat, or elsewhere.

He hearkened back to a 2011 fight over a controversial bill that initially made it so that voicemails, instant messages, video chats and text messages "are not records subject to [GRAMA], with some exceptions."

The bill, meant to protect lawmaker privacy as cellphone use proliferated, passed and was signed by then-Gov. Gary Herbert. Within weeks — and after waves of public outcry, including protests and front-page newspaper editorials decrying the lack of transparency — Herbert signed another bill to repeal the legislation.

Reymann said the controversy illustrates that the principle of Utah's law has always been that "as long as you are doing official business, then the record is subject to GRAMA."

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"Whether they are communicating on their official school email addresses, whether they're communicating by Signal, whether they're communicating by passenger pigeon," he said, "it doesn't matter."

Reymann added that he was troubled at the allegation that messages were being deleted on a rolling basis.

"There is no question that if a government official is directing people to communicate by an application that ensures that the messages are deleted, and are never available for the public to see, that is a blatant violation of GRAMA," he said.

Michigan passed a law in 2021 that banned employees in all state departments and agencies from using any app or software that "prevents it from maintaining or preserving a public record as required by law on an electronic device that is used to create a public record."

The law change happened after the Detroit Free Press reported that high-ranking officials in the Michigan State Police had been using Signal on their state-provided phones, bypassing requirements of the state's open record laws.

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College Athlete Compensation

https://www.collegeathletecompensation.com/

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Sunday, January 5, 2025

2024 AD Hiring Trends

https://www.smallcollegeathletics.com/2024-ad-hiring-trends

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Saturday, January 4, 2025

FSU Retrenchment Decision Summary Announcement

https://www.frostburg.edu/news/2024/december/fsu-retrenchment-decision-summary-announcement.php

FSU Retrenchment Decision Summary Announcement

Dec 23, 2024 10:20 AM

Frostburg State University has had to make very difficult decisions in order to assure the University is positioned well and has a strong financial foundation to continue its more than 125-year history of serving its students and as an anchor institution for western Maryland and the entire tri-state region we serve.

After many years of making moderate adjustments and cuts to deal with declining enrollments and increasing expenses, this year, in order to eliminate a recurring $7.7 million annual structural deficit, marginal solutions could no longer balance the University's budget. In order to balance the budget, and indeed, in order to place FSU in a position to make strategic investments in its future, tougher choices had to be made.

The Educational Market Alignment Plan (EMAP) that emerged from a lengthy process that included the opportunity for input from the entire campus community, and even from those outside the campus community, is a balanced approach that impacts every part of the campus. Making the individual decisions that constitute EMAP was not done lightly, nor were the decisions easy. None were tougher than the decision to scale down the size of our faculty - retrenchment.

Today we are announcing the outcome of the retrenchment process, which although not technically considered retrenchment, includes the notification to some Full-Time Non-Tenure-Track (FTNTT) faculty that their contracts will not be renewed.

First, we want to express our great regret and empathy to those affected faculty members that this action is necessary. As you know, depending on your years of service and faculty rank, you now have either 6-months or 1-year to continue in your position before your faculty appointment is ended. During that time, you will receive, at no cost to you, support from a career placement firm engaged by FSU to alert you to opportunities and assist you with job applications you want to pursue. For a period of one year, you will be notified of faculty opportunities for which you are qualified at other USM institutions. Further, for a period of 3-years, should the faculty position you are currently in be reinstituted, you will have the opportunity to be recalled to service. Additionally, FSU is making the commitment that as non-faculty positions may become available within the University, affected FTNTT and retrenched faculty will be favorably considered for any positions for which they wish to apply and for which their skills and experience can be applied to the available position. The entire University thanks you for your service and for the impact you have had, and will continue to have for some time, on the students we serve.

The loss of any faculty from FSU is always difficult. When that loss is caused by circumstances beyond the sole control of the University and resulting in some of our best faculty members, through no fault of their own, being forced to separate from the University, it leaves the entire University community wounded.

A detailed report of the President's Retrenchment Decisions will be released to the Faculty Senate, in both redacted and unredacted versions, after the holiday break. Simultaneously, redacted and unredacted versions of the Retrenchment Plan Committee's report and recommendations will be released to the Faculty Senate. The reason for issuing redacted versions of each report is because both contain sensitive personally-identifiable personnel information. While individuals affected by non-renewal notifications or retrenchment decisions are free to share or maintain such information to themselves, the Administration will not release such information publicly.

Although these notifications were originally scheduled for mid-January, following a request by the faculty senate, we worked with every department to ensure the timing occurred prior to the winter break.

If there is any bright spot in the current circumstances, it is that despite the raw emotions, anxiety and other reactions we have witnessed during these difficult times, the University, the University System of Maryland, and particularly, some among the faculty stepped-up to minimize the impact that retrenchment would otherwise have had on our University.

Four (4) senior faculty members have submitted their retirement notice. Thirteen (13) senior faculty members have executed agreements with the University to exercise Transitional Terminal Leave (often referred to as phased retirement) agreements and permanently separate from FSU as soon as the end of the Spring 2025 semester, but no later than the end of fiscal year 2026 (June 30, 2026). In accordance with judgements expressed by their department chairs, their deans, and often by the faculty member themselves, none of these faculty members will need to be replaced. Thus, the full amount of savings realized from their separation have been fully applied to reducing the number of FTNTT, tenured or tenure-track faculty whose position will need to be eliminated. Because the compensation of senior faculty tends to be considerably higher than more junior faculty, who are at greater risk for non-renewal/retrenchment in accordance with the Faculty Handbook, each retirement or TTL agreement saved an estimated one and one half (1.5) positions from being eliminated, or approximately twenty-four (24) positions.

Four (4) individuals serving within the administration (these do not include two (2) divisional vice presidents positions being eliminated as part of divisional mergers) are retiring or are planning to separate from the University before the start of fiscal year 2026 (July 1, 2025). Although not required to be included in the retrenchment policy or calculations, all of the savings from these positions have been credited and applied to the contract non-renewal/retrenchment calculations, thus preventing additional faculty position elimination. This application of savings reduces the number of estimated non-renewals/retrenchment by an additional eight (8) positions.

Despite the excellent response from faculty to calls from the Administration to consider submitting proposals for Transition Terminal Leave, or among those faculty who have opted for retirement, or even with the decision to apply administrative retirement savings to the contract non-renewal/retrenchment calculations, the need to eliminate certain faculty appointments persisted. In accordance with the required financial and student-faculty ratio targets previously established, four (4) full-time non-tenure track positions will not have their contracts renewed. One (1) tenured faculty member will be retrenched. Three (3) tenure-track faculty members will be retrenched. Additionally, eleven (11) adjunct faculty, each teaching one (1) course, are not expected to be called back. By definition under the FSU Faculty Handbook and the USM Board of Regents policy, retrenchment pertains only to tenured and tenure-track faculty appointments. Non-renewal of FTNTT contracts and decisions to engage with adjunct faculty is solely an administrative decision.

While specifics will be included in the President's Retrenchment Decision report to be submitted to the Faculty Senate after the holiday break, no FTNTT contract non-renewal, nor any retrenchment decision deviated, for any reason, from the order recommended by the Retrenchment Plan Committee, from the procedures established in the FSU Faculty Handbook, nor from the USM Board of Regents policy.

In summary, the retrenchment process has resulted in notification having been sent by the University to four (4) faculty members, whose faculty appointment will end. Each has been provided either a 6-month or 1-year notification period (depending on their length of service to the University), during which they will be fully employed and fully compensated. Additionally, four (4) faculty members working under a full-time non-tenure-track employment contract will not have their contract renewed. They have each been given a 6-month notification of non-renewal and each will be fully employed and fully compensated until the end of their contract.

It is important to note that any additional faculty retirements or TTL agreements taking effect, and thus realizing additional savings before the start of fiscal year 2027, may reduce the number of retrenchments or reduction of FTNTT contracts further. Should that occur, a notice rescinding the notification sent to individual faculty will ensue.

We know that these are challenging times not faced by FSU before. We also realize that the emotional response and toll of this process has taxed our ability to remain a strong and unified community. We hope with this announcement, the community – both on campus and throughout the region – may begin to heal and come together to make FSU stronger and better able to continue to serve our students, our community, our state and the people of our tri-state region. We owe them nothing less.

Thank you.

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