CMU chapter of Society of Professional Journalists named finalists for Campus Program of the Year


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Patricia Alvord, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, speaks at the FOIA Panel about Central Michigan University's transparency with sexual assault records at Moore Hall 105 on April 12, 2018.

Central Michigan University's chapter of Society of Professional Journalists have been named finalists for an award for their Freedom of Information Act project.

Every year, the Society of Professional Journalists honors outstanding campus chapters from each of their 12 regions. Starting this year, SPJ is also recognizing campus programs, or projects from each region.

In January, CMU's SPJ chapter sent FOIA requests to every university in the Mid-American Conference, asking for incident reports relating to sexual assault, harassment and violence.  They also requested police records, along with policies and guidelines for campus police to use in those situations.

SPJ members graded each university based on the timeliness of its response and the amount of information it provided. The results of the project can be found here.

CMU was one of the schools that failed, according to the parameters.  CMU denied the students' request, explaining that the documents contained personal information which could reveal "embarrassing and intimate details" about students.

SPJ's faculty adviser Ed Simpson said he is extremely proud of the work his students did.

"The students did a fabulous job of conceiving and executing [this project]," he said.  "It's a really important function of journalism to shine a light on issues that are normally kept in the dark . This project exemplified that."

Finalists were announced on SPJ's website on Aug. 23.  The winner and runner-up will be announced at the Excellence in Journalism 2018 conference Friday, Sept. 28 in Baltimore, Maryland.

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