News Story

U-M’s Uncomfortable Relationship With Michigan’s Open Records Law

University officials often behave as if Freedom of Information Act requirements are optional

In April 2020, the University of Michigan announced that it would freeze base salaries due to budget issues, and the story was picked up by numerous news sources.

But despite the announcement and media coverage, U-M did not stop giving bonuses and other salary enhancements that boost pay well above an employee’s base salary.

In 2021 the Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a request under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act for records showing the gross pay of U-M employees in one specified department. When university officials refused to comply, the Mackinac Center responded with a lawsuit. It challenged claims that payments to employees in excess of their base salary are not public information subject to disclosure.

The response also showed that many employees had received large pay bumps, which contradicted the widely reported claims of a salary freeze.

For example, a 2019 base salary of $139,050 was reported for Elizabeth Seney, who is employed by a university Office of Institutional Equity. But Seney’s gross pay was $167,488 in 2019, which was 20% higher than her published base salary.

In the last six years, the Mackinac Center filed four lawsuits against the University of Michigan, challenging its refusal to turn over public documents in a timely manner. [The stories covered salaries at the Office of Institutional Equity, how the university spent donated funds, information that university employees supplied to state officials about COVID policy and political statements made by the university president.]

An annual event called Sunshine Week was established in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors to raise awareness of public’s right to see government records and information. Sunshine Week this year is March 13-19.

In Michigan, that right is recognized and made real by the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, signed into law in 1976.

But U-M's track record shows an uncomfortable relationship with the law's requirements.

“The University of Michigan’s consistent pattern of failing to adhere to the requirements of the FOIA is troubling to say the least,” said Steve Delie, an attorney at the Mackinac Center who specializes in FOIA law. “The Freedom of Information Act is designed to ensure that members of the public have access to the records they need to hold government bodies accountable and fully participate in the democratic process. The University’s FOIA practices should further this goal, but the legal record shows they are failing to do so.”

The University of Michigan has responded promptly to some FOIA requests. For example, the Mackinac Center filed a FOIA request for the contract of Robert Gordon, former director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, who had been hired by U-M. The university provided Gordon’s contract within 24 hours.

U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald noted that the university was also the only state university to provide names with the base salaries it posts on its website.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

News Story

Who’s The Flat-earther Now?

World-is-flat science and New York City’s vaccine mandates

On March 29, the Detroit Pistons will play the Brooklyn Nets at New York City’s Barclay Center.

Nets player Kyrie Irving will not be allowed to play in that game, unless a controversial New York City vaccine mandate is repealed. Irving has provided one of the season’s more intriguing stories, with his refusal to get a COVID vaccine. Or more precisely, the story involves the response by public health and other officials now being questioned.

According to the National Basketball Association, about 90% of its players are vaccinated. The league does not have a vaccine mandate.

Irving is no stranger to controversy. In 2018, he was forced to apologize for saying in an interview that he said the world is flat. During the COVID pandemic, he was forced by his team to sit out a season because he refused to get vaccinated. Eventually, Nets' officials changed their mind and let him play — but New York City’s vaccine mandate still barred him from playing in the team’s home games.

The New York City vaccine mandate states:

“Workers in New York City who perform in-person work or interact with the public in the course of business must show proof that they have received a COVID vaccine. Businesses may not allow any unvaccinated workers to work at their workplace.”

New York City has lifted its vaccine mandate for indoor dining, fitness clubs and entertainment venues. Nothing prohibits unvaccinated fans from attending Nets games at the Barclay Center.

New York City continues, however, to impose a vaccine mandate on the employees of private sector businesses. But that rule only applies to the employees of city-based businesses. Unvaccinated NBA players who are on teams from outside the city may still play in the Barclay Center — but not Irving.

When Irving joined his teammates in the locker room after being forced to sit out a recent home game, the NBA fined the Nets $50,000 for violating the New York City mandate. Irving was allowed to sit outside the locker room, but going in meant he had entered his workplace.

Nothing in city policy would have prohibited unvaccinated fans from entering the Nets’ locker room after that game. While Irving was forbidden from playing in the game or entering the locker room, he could sit courtside within feet of his teammates. Those teammates, in theory, could also have been playing against an unvaccinated athlete from a competing team, because that person’s employer is not New York City-based business. And those opposing team's unvaccinated players would not have been prohibited from entering the Nets' locker room, unlike Irving.

New York City mayor Eric Adams admitted that he's "struggling" about what to do because he said it was unfair for hometown teams to have different rules than visiting teams.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.