'Star' right to challenge IU

The Indianapolis Star filed a lawsuit against IU Oct. 30 claiming the University has to disclose all the written documents detailing the Bob Knight investigation and his subsequent firing. The Star claims since the University released some of the information, it should be required to release all the information. The paper also reported that because of the extreme public interest in what actually happened during this time, it is an important public service to release such documents.\nThe IDS wholly and completely agrees.\n Unfortunately The Star doesn't have much of a case. It states very clearly in the Access to Open Records Act that all personnel files of public employees be released -- with several exceptions. One of those exceptions happens to be, "Information relating to the status of any formal charges against the employee; and information concerning disciplinary actions which final action has been taken and that resulted in the employee being disciplined or charged."\n The Knight firing had both of these requirements. IU president Myles Brand cited a pattern of unacceptable behavior by Knight that violated the "zero-tolerance policy," which constitutes a formal charge against an employee. Knight's dismissal was, of course, a disciplinary action. Therefore, all records pertaining to the incident are not public information.\nBut this exception does not mean The Star should drop its lawsuit. In fact, it is even more important that the Star follows through with its lawsuit. It is up to a judge to interpret the law and maybe, with this lawsuit, the statute can be changed.\nNo one doubts this information is important and relevant to the public. The release of these records could help clear up a lot of misconceptions about both Knight and the University. It seems if the University followed all the correct policies when handling this case, then it shouldn't have a problem releasing the records. The way it stands, the release of such records should help the University's credibility.\nThe Star deserves a great deal of credit for challenging this statute. For selfish reasons, it upholds everything a journalist believes in, namely keeping the public informed. For a less selfish reason, but just as important, this lawsuit will hopefully open these documents to the public, and this mess that has been the firing of Bob Knight might finally be resolved.