https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/03/05/big-ten-presidents-portal-football-covid/
Big Ten presidents kept return-to-school, football communications out of public eye
Various sections from the article about 2021 communications moved to Big 10 conference communications in order to avoid FOIA.
“I would be delighted to share information,” Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank responded in an email chain begun in August by Michigan President Mark Schlissel, “but perhaps we can do this through the Big 10 portal, which will assure confidentiality?”
The Big Ten portal, which uses Nasdaq Boardvantage’s software, allows users to communicate with one another, share meeting materials and view documents — but the school presidents value it at least in part because they see it as exempt from open-records laws.
The 13 public institutions in the Big Ten, which spans 11 states, are subject to Freedom of Information laws, which make exceptions for some private data, such as an individual’s medical information. Such material should be redacted from records that otherwise should be released.
The conference itself is a private entity and does not have the same obligations to comply with public records laws.