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Otterbein University Student Sues For Access To College Police Dept. Records
By: Associated Press
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A student journalist at a central Ohio college is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to order the private school to turn over arrest records and other information.
Anna Schiffbauer, editor of a news website at Otterbein College in the Columbus suburb of Westerville, filed the action Thursday. She contends the college police department is a public office covered by the state's open-records laws.
Student journalists at the liberal-arts college have battled Otterbein over the release of records since the campus security force became a full-fledged police department of state-certified officers in 2011.
School spokeswoman Jennifer Pearce said that Otterbein is private and exempt from public-records laws. She said federal law requires it to protect certain information about students from release.