Harvard Case Decided

The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued its decision yesterday in Harvard Crimson v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. (The case was mentioned in this blog in October 2005) At issue was whether records relating to certain incidents listed on the Harvard University Police Department's (HUPD) weekly log of complaints were public records. The Crimson had argued that the because some HUPD police officers had been appointed special State police officers or deputy sheriffs in Middlesex and Suffolk counties, the records were public records. The SJC chose to read the public records law narrowly. It held the records held by the HUPD were not public records. According to today's Boston Globe, the Crimson is now considering pursuing a legislative change which would make the public records law applicable to special State Police officers at hospitals and higher education institutions.