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UT System files second suit to protect student applicant information

Today The University of Texas System is filing a second lawsuit against the Texas Attorney General related to an additional request for documents produced as a result of the Kroll investigation into admissions. A suit is necessary because the Attorney General ruled that the System should release information that we believe should be protected.

At issue is the release of thousands of documents, some of which contain personal and identifying information of prospective students who applied to The University of Texas at Austin. The records were provided to Kroll Associates, Inc. as they were compiling their report. However, the majority of the records were not used as part of the investigation.

The first suit was filed last week to ensure private records weren’t released as a result of identical requests from two Texas newspapers. The suit filed today is regarding a separate request that is much broader in scope and requests all information collected by Kroll and provided to Kroll in relation to its investigation.

In both cases, we are filing suit to protect the private information of UT students, as well as applicants and prospective students.  In our view, the Attorney General has misapplied a rule related to which documents are part of a “completed investigation” and are therefore available to the public. Part of the significant impact of that decision falls on the thousands of students who have applied to UT Austin whose identifying information could be exposed, as well as their transcripts and test scores. 

An example of information that the Attorney General has approved for release to the public includes releasing the file of a student who applied to UT Austin. While the AG agreed that the applicant’s name and address be redacted, information that could easily identify the applicant, including his high school, year of graduation, sports teams, clubs and summer jobs are all left open for scrutiny, as well as the applicant’s test scores and transcripts.

Challenging a Public Information Act ruling of the Office of the Attorney General is a fairly routine practice among state agencies when there is a disagreement with the ruling, and the UT System will actually be represented by an attorney from the Attorney General’s Office, at no cost to the UT System.

We have consistently tried to ensure the privacy of students is protected consistent with federal law and the Texas Constitution, as well as protect other information we believe should not be disclosed under the Texas Public Information Act.

We are obligated to do everything in our power to protect student information, which is guarded by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and a constitutional right to privacy, just as we are obligated to protect patient information, as required by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking basic, applied and clinical research and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. With nine academic universities, six health institutions and an enrollment of more than 217,000, the UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates almost two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public institutions in Texas. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $15.6 billion (FY 2015) including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With about 20,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates – and more than 70,000 health care professionals, researchers, student advisors and support staff, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.

News Contact Information

Jenny LaCoste-Caputo:  jcaputo@utsystem.edu  • 512-499-4361(direct) • 512-574-5777 (cell) 
Karen Adler:  kadler@utsystem.edu  • 512-499-4360 (direct) • 210-912-8055 (cell)