Institutional Press Policies (Kirkwood Community College)

Anne Marie Tamburro filed this request with the Kirkwood Community College of Iowa.

It is a clone of this request.

Multi Request Institutional Press Policies
Submitted May 30, 2023
Status
Completed

Communications

From: Anne Marie Tamburro

Subject: Iowa Open Records Law Request: Institutional Press Policies (Kirkwood Community College)

Mail

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Iowa Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

1. Any policy, guidance, handbook, manual, or standard contract concerning the institution’s interactions or relationship with members of the news media, reporters, or journalists, including student journalists.

2. Any policy, guidance, handbook, or manual concerning the interactions or communications of institutional employees, including faculty, administrators, staff, and student employees, with the news media, reporters, or journalists, including student journalists.

Please note that this request does not seek a search of faculty or student email accounts or records. These requests should in no way be construed to include a review or search of email accounts, websites, or other forms of data or document retention which are controlled by students, alumni, or faculty members, nor by governmental or advisory bodies controlled by the same, except insofar as any such individuals also serve in an administrative capacity and the records were created or are held by the individual in that capacity. Any search should be limited to documents held by the administration and/or its staff members, including records created or maintained by persons acting in the capacity of administrators or staff members.

This request is made on behalf of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that aims to defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought. This request concerns a matter of public interest. The records are sought for the purpose of researching and educating the public about policies affecting student journalists' ability to engage in news gathering and reporting on college and university campuses.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Anne Marie Tamburro

From: Kirkwood Community College

Subject: None

Web

Ms. Tamburro,

I hope all is well. My name is Justin Hoehn and I am the Director of Media and Legislative Relations for Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I apologize for not responding sooner to your request, but I just received it today. It seems you had originally sent the request back on May 30, 2023. That request did not reach me, however your follow up message on June 13 did, and that is why I am reaching out to you today. It's possible that I did not receive your earlier request because it was addressed to the "ORA Office". Since that office does not exist at Kirkwood, it's likely the original message hit a dead end.

The college procedure for how Kirkwood employees handle the news media (including student journalists) is actually located in the institution's Policies and Procedures page located here:

https://www.kirkwood.edu/about-us/trustees/board-policies-and-procedures

The exact procedure that addresses media relations is under the "400 Series - Human Resources" and is titled "400.1 - Code of Ethics and Conduct". In the text of the procedure, the area that concerns your request is labeled "College Communications". The text is as follows:

College Communications
Employees should not make public statements on behalf of Kirkwood Community College or its affiliates unless they are authorized spokespersons. If an employee is contacted by the media and they are not an authorized spokesperson they should refer the inquiry to Justin Hoehn, Director of Media and Legislative Relations.

Other than this text, Kirkwood Community College has no policy, guidance, handbook, manual, or standard contract, that refers to the the institution’s interactions or relationship with members of the news media, reporters, or journalists, including student journalists. In addition, this is sole procedure that addresses the institution's expectations for interactions or communications of institutional employees, including faculty, administrators, staff, and student employees, with the news media, reporters, or journalists, including student journalists.

I feel it is necessary to point out that this procedure applies specifically to public statements made by employees on behalf of Kirkwood Community College. Any employee is free to communicate with news media as a member of the general public. However, as an employee and representative of Kirkwood, they are expected to abide by the expectations set forth in the aforementioned procedure.

I hope this addresses your request. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at justin.hoehn@kirkwood.edu.

Regards,

Justin Hoehn
Director, Media and Legislative Relations
Kirkwood Community College

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