CSU Nickels and Dimes Students for Email Copies
A student editor at the Mustang Daily, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s campus newspaper, asked the CSU headquarters in Long Beach for a copy of an email sent by the system’s chancellor, Charles Reed, to all campus presidents, about faculty members’ politicking in class and Prop 30. CSU headquarters, after at first denying the request, citing university policy, then responded that sending him the email would cost 20 cents and he would have to pay first—by check.
Punished for Asking Too Early, Too Hard and Too Long
The City of Sebastopol, sued for public records showing what it knew and didn’t do about an unsafe street condition that left her an indigent paraplegic, convinced a court that her lawyer was oppressively zealous and that she should pay it more than $80,000 for asking for too much information from too many officials. The Willows Unified School District, sued for public records showing whether its superintendent improperly influenced the electoral process, convinced a court that the weekly newspaper editor who pushed for the information and got some but not much, was liable for $56,000 for pressing too early and too hard. Californians Aware has submitted friend-of-the-court briefs supporting both requesters against these misplaced fee orders punishing supposedly “frivolous” litigation.
