UA has used act to limit disclosures in textbook case

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama released 160 pages of documents in March relating to its response to NCAA allegations in UA’s textbook disbursement case, but wide black bars obscure much of the information.

With the NCAA’s notification of penalties looming, possibly as early as this week, many questions about the matter are still unanswered about the depth and level of the athletic department’s textbook disbursement problem. The number of student-athletes involved and the monetary value of the improperly distributed textbooks are among the items blacked out by UA officials citing the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.

Of 25 exhibits listed in UA’s response to the NCAA’s notice of allegations, eight were not released to the public citing the privacy law and two others had significant portions blacked out, or redacted. In fact, the entire title of one of the exhibits was blacked out and the document was not released, citing FERPA.

The university also refused multiple requests by The Tuscaloosa News for a list of secondary NCAA violations reported by UA in the last five years, including requests to provide the list with the names of any student-athletes redacted.

UA blacked out which athletic teams were involved. Also redacted were the number of interviews with student-athletes during the course of Alabama’s internal investigation of the matter.

Below the summary of UA’s response to the NCAA allegations on the Web page linking the documents is a disclaimer:

“Federal privacy laws limit the information the University can release about the student-athletes involved.”

While not releasing the names of involved student-athletes may fairly fall under FERPA, other redactions and withheld documents seem to have little to do with student privacy.

Deborah Lane, assistant vice president for university relations, didn’t provide specifics as to why certain items were not released or were blacked out in the NCAA documents, but explained the school’s policy in an e-mail:

“As we do with every record request, UA officials evaluate the request, often with advice with legal counsel, and make a good faith decision whether or not UA is permitted or obligated by law to release requested records or information,” she said. “As we have stated before, federal privacy laws prevent the university from providing the media with personally identifiable information related to its students.

“The federal definition of personally identifiable information includes information that is ‘linked or linkable to a student’ and information that is requested by someone who the ‘institution reasonably believes knows the identity of the student to whom’ the record relates.”

UA also withheld squad lists, or rosters, that were provided to the NCAA, presumably because that would have identified which sports were involved in the allegations. The Tuscaloosa News has reported that athletes in the football, men’s and women’s track and cross-country programs and one women’s soccer player were involved in textbook violations.

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.