BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Western Kentucky University has sued two student publications in response to an opinion by Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear that found school officials should have turned over records related to sexual misconduct investigations.
The Daily News of Bowling Green reports that Western filed suit Friday in Warren Circuit Court against its student newspaper, the College Heights Herald, and the University of Kentucky newspaper, The Kentucky Kernel.
Beshear ruled in January that that WKU’s decision to turn down the newspapers’ requests for records violated the state’s open records statute. He said the papers must be allowed access to the records, with the exception of personal identifiers of the complainants and witnesses.
WKU says in its complaint that the ruling “clearly violates” state and federal law as well as the privacy of victims, witnesses and students involved in sexual misconduct investigations.
