All that CalPoly San Luis Obispo student journalist Sean McMinn wanted was a copy of a public document so he could finish writing his story for the Mustang Daily.
McMinn was doing a story about the university’s policy concerning professors commenting in class about political issues of the day—particularly Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30—as they relate to California State University, and he wanted a copy of university Chancellor Charles Reed’s email to school presidents that laid it all out.
At first, the junior filed his request with the CalState public affairs office but they turned him down, citing school policy. However, he knew the email had probably been sent from a university account so he filed a California Public Act request for a copy. The school relented, and told McMinn he could travel across town to look at a copy, or he could send them a check for 20 cents and they would email it to him.
McMinn didn’t have time to get a check to them through the newspaper’s account, so he offered to pay with a credit card, a debit card or cold hard coins. But only a check would do. The CSU office didn’t have cash registers or any way to process a credit transaction.
So with deadline approaching and time running out, McMinn found another source for the document, filed his story and blogged about his tale of higher education hijinks.
“Though we were able to move forward with the article as planned, the CSU’s actions demonstrated behavior that is contradictory to its mission statement: educate the state’s students and provide an environment where research is valued and supported,” he wrote. “It is key that the CSU upholds these guiding principles and doesn’t succumb to red-tape bureaucracy so that those who fund the CSU can understand how their money is being spent and serve as part of the decision-making process.”
McMinn also noted that communication from CalState was addressed to him at the Daily Mustang, a close approximation of the school newspaper’s actual name.
–Ken Broder
To Learn More:
A Matter of $0.20 (by Sean McMinn, Mustang Daily)
CSU Calls for Less in-Class Campaigning (by Sean McMinn, Mustang Daily)