Document request
Dear Rowan University,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
Any document produced by the following Offices; OSLP, Student Conduct Office, Office of Community Standards, Deans Office, Greek Life Office, Office of Off-Campus Student Services & Resources;
that contain in the document or in title “Kappa Sigma” .
Sincerely
FratzLaw
Good afternoon,
We are in receipt of your December 23, 2022 OPRA request. Pursuant to OPRA, a response from Rowan University is normally due within seven (7) business days or January 4, 2023 in this case. However, in this case, you requested: Any document produced by the following Offices; OSLP, Student Conduct Office, Office of Community Standards, Deans Office, Greek Life Office, Office of Off-Campus Student Services & Resources;
that contain in the document or in title “Kappa Sigma” .
Your request did not define what documents you are looking for, limit the time frame or provide how you want the records produced. "OPRA requires a party requesting access to a public record to specifically describe the document sought." Gannett New Jersey Partners, L.P. v. County of Middlesex 379 N.J.Super. 205, 212, 877 A.2d 330 (App.Div.2005). A request must identify the sought-after documents "with reasonable clarity." Bent v. Township of Stafford Police Department 381 N.J.Super. 30, 37, 884 A.2d 240 (App.Div. 2005). A requestor is obliged to identify the documents sought with some particularity, thus enabling government to maintain transparency while completing necessary day-to-day functions. Bent, supra, 381 N.J.Super. at 37, 884 A.2d 240. "Any document" does not give us any clarity as to what you are looking for. In addition, you did not provide a date range for the documents you are seeking.
Please note you requested documents from several departments which means in order to respond, we will need to coordinate with a few departments as well as review the documents for any duplication, confidential or non-relevant information which may need to be redacted. This may require us to seek additional time to respond and charge a fee for the employees' time.
In light of the above, depending on the amount of records that you are looking for, there may be charges for the employee time and copying costs incurred to get all the information together. OPRA allows public agencies to impose special service charges whenever the nature, format, manner of collation, or volume of a government record embodied in the form of printed matter to be inspected, examined, or copied pursuant to this section is such that the record cannot be reproduced by ordinary document copying equipment in ordinary business size or when fulfilling a request requires an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5. As stated earlier, you also did not provide the format, such as hard copies, pdf, etc., that you want the documents produced to you. Please advise how you want us to produce the records to you. Depending on the format that you choose, there may be additional costs to copy everything. OPRA mandates that the requestor (you) has the opportunity to review and object to the charge prior to it being incurred. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.c. Once you get back to me, I will get you an estimate of the costs for you to review and approve. Please note that we will not produce any information or begin any work until payment is received.
Let me know how you want to proceed. Please note, Rowan University's response time is suspended until we hear back from you.
Thank you,
Arsinoe Feld
OPRA Coordinator
Office of General Counsel
Rowan University | 201 Mullica Hill Rd., Laurel Hall #205 | Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701
Dear Feld, Lorra Arsinoe,
Clarification of request;
Any document (this means in paper or electronic possession) produced by the following Offices; OSLP, Student Conduct Office, Office of Community Standards, Deans Office, Greek Life Office, Office of Off-Campus Student Services & Resources;
that contain in the document or in title “Kappa Sigma” between the period of January 1st 2022 to present.
Yours sincerely,
fratlaw
Dear Feld, Lorra Arsinoe,
Further more, please provide electronic access to documents in either a pdf or doc file
Yours sincerely,
fratlaw
Good afternoon,
Thank you for the clarifications.
Your search is still seeking "any document" that has the term "Kappa
Sigma" from several departments here at Rowan University. In order to
respond, we will need to coordinate with these departments as well as
review the documents for any duplication, confidential or non-relevant
information which may need to be redacted.
This may require us to charge a fee for the employees' time. I am waiting
to hear from the various departments on whether the search will require an
employee to spend extended time to answer your request. If that is the
case, I will let you know the projected costs prior to starting any work.
You can decide then if you want to proceed. Just to be clear, this is
only if the search is going to take an employee away from their normal
work responsibilities for an extended time.
Based on the above, we are requesting until January 25, 2023 to provide a
response. Please let me know if you have any concerns or objections to the
request for an extension. Otherwise, I will assume you agree to the
extension.
Thank you,
Arsinoe Feld
Arsinoe Feld
OPRA Coordinator
Office of General Counsel
Dear Feld, Lorra Arsinoe,
The extension is of course acceptable.
Please let me know of any updates or more necessary extensions.
Yours sincerely,
fratlaw
Good afternoon,
Please accept this as Rowan’s completed response to your December 23, 2022 OPRA request (below) wherein you sought documents "produced by the following Offices; OSLP, Student Conduct Office, Office of Community Standards, Deans Office, Greek Life Office, Office of Off-Campus Student Services & Resources;
that contain in the document or in title “Kappa Sigma.” As you know, OPRA requires a response within seven business days. We agreed to an extension until today, January 24, 2023. Attached please find the all documents we were able to find in response to your request. As you will notice, there are some redactions regarding people's personal information.
I believe this is a full response to your OPRA request and Rowan will close this request unless you advise otherwise.
If you have any questions and/or would like to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time.
Thank you,
Arsinoe Feld
OPRA Coordinator
Office of General Counsel
Rowan University | 201 Mullica Hill Rd.| Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701
[email address]
856-256-5110