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Wednesday, June 04, 2008
UNM Not Above Public Record Law
By Jamie Koch
UNM Regents President
As president of the University of New Mexico Board Of Regents, I am proud of the historic actions regents took at our meeting May 28 to make sure the university is and will remain in full compliance with the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.
As a former member of the Legislature, I have always been a staunch advocate for transparency in our government and our public institutions. The University of New Mexico now can lead by example and set the highest standards for our faculty, staff and students.
Let there be no mistake, this does not in any way compromise our privacy rights, our intellectual property rights, our creative rights or jeopardize our academic freedom. It does bring us into full compliance with existing law. As Regent Mel Eaves so clearly stated, “this is not discretionary.”
This historic action was taken with the support of Regents Eaves, Raymond Sanchez, Jack Fortner and Student Regent Dahlia Dorman. I particularly want to point out the judicious support of Eaves and his understanding of our legal obligations under existing law as a public institution. Sanchez brought invaluable historical state knowledge to the discussion based on his many years of dedicated public service as speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives. He knows firsthand the importance of maintaining openness in government and voted for the Inspection of Public Records Act. Fortner who has been the chairman of the San Juan County Commission also, as a public official understands the importance of enforcing openness in government.
I realize all change comes with some internal trepidation and concern. I have faith that we will be able to implement the specific policy changes once all parties understand two simple facts. We are a public institution and we are not above the law. If there are concerns about the law they should be addressed with the Legislature.
Finally, as a result of my request for input on these discussions, I received an excellent idea from a member of the university staff, Michael Carr, director of the Information Assurance of the University of New Mexico. Annual training by faculty and staff on compliance with the Inspection of Public Records Act will help us all to understand our obligations and our rights and could prevent unnecessary and costly litigation caused by possible failure to comply with the law and reduce the levels of concerns based on a lack of knowledge of the Act.
The UNM Health Sciences Center currently requires all faculty and staff to take an online test annually relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA, a federal law that contains privacy statutes that govern the release and sharing of all patient information. This would serve as an excellent model for the entire university in order to instruct faculty and staff on our legal requirements under the existing law.
The vote taken May 28 puts us on the path once and for all to full compliance. I hope we will have resolved all the internal issues, adopted staff and faculty practices and united behind the principle of compliance so that we can take final action at our Board of Regents meeting Aug. 12. It is an action that should have been taken long ago.
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