FARGO, N.D. ― North Dakota University System officials were at fault in an open records dispute over deleted emails of North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said in a ruling released Friday.
The state Legislative Council, on behalf of an unnamed lawmaker or lawmakers, had asked to review Bresciani’s emails during a controversy involving former Chancellor Hamid Shirvani, whose contract was eventually bought out by the state Board of Higher Education.
Stenehjem said the university system violated open records laws when university system staff located and made a copy of more than 43,000 of the deleted emails but failed to provide them to the Legislative Council in a timely fashion.
Bresciani had denied accusations from the Legislative Council that the emails were intentionally deleted and said it was the result of an automatic purge function. Stenehjem said there’s no way of resolving that issue because the university system staff failed to use a backup system from Microsoft.
The university system “failed in its obligation and can now only provide this office with speculation” on when the emails were deleted, Stenehjem said.
Larry Skogen, the acting chancellor, said in a statement that “there is no evidence that Dr. Bresciani, or anyone else at NDSU, intentionally deleted emails after receiving an open records request.”
Skogen said he’s requiring the university system to fully comply with both the letter and spirit of the open records and open meetings laws while he’s interim chancellor. “We will set the standard for transparency and public accountability while I am Chancellor.”
