UNM to pay $195,000 in IPRA lawsuit settlement related to weapons inventory

Early into Lily Alexander’s career as a student journalist, she hit a roadblock many journalists face.

Following a controversy regarding the University of New Mexico Police Department’s lack of body camera usage, the then-19-year-old news editor of the Daily Lobo wanted to learn how many weapons the public institution had on campus.

Alexander, 21, in November 2023 filed a request under the state Inspection of Public Records Act — a law that allows any person to inspect public records — and waited for UNM to send her the records.

“I assumed I would get it because, in my eyes, it was almost a no-brainer,” she said. “When I got the denial soon after I filed it, it did ring some alarm bells in my head.”

UNM said the police department’s weapons inventory was not subject to IPRA and stated the release of the inventory could “facilitate a terrorist attack,” according to the lawsuit filed in March 2024.

Alexander decided, with the advice of other journalists, to push back against the school and filed a lawsuit with the intention of accelerating the completion of the records request.

What happened instead was a two-year battle between Alexander and UNM that ended with the university settling with Alexander, now a Santa Fe New Mexican reporter, for $195,000 for the denial of public records.

“These are actually the people’s records, not the government’s records, and so they have to be available to the people, unless there is an exception written into the law for that document,” said Adam Flores, the attorney on Alexander’s case.

Ben Cloutier, a spokesperson for UNM, declined to comment on the settlement, citing ongoing litigation.

Amanda Lavin, attorney and legal director for The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said UNM’s lack of compliance with IPRA indicates issues with transparency.

“It sends a message to the public that they are not to be trusted when it comes to transparency and accountability,” she said. “I don’t think that’s good for public trust. They’re giving the impression that they’re looking for ways to hide records, which is the exact opposite of what IPRA says.”

Alexander said the lawsuit shows the strength of IPRA and that student journalists should continue to demand the information they are legally allowed to access.

“Student journalism is where this whole thing began, so I do hope that it sets some kind of precedent for student journalists and that student journalists feel confident in their access to information,” she said.

As for the requested weapons inventory that caused the lawsuit in the first place?

Alexander eventually received the now out-of-date UNM weapons inventory from 2023 and found that the school’s police force had 155 weapons, including silencers.

The guns, a mix of shotguns, handguns and semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s and M4 carbine rifles, all sit somewhere at UNM in a location to remain undisclosed, per an agreement between Alexander and the university.