ESPN has filed a lawsuit against Notre Dame claiming the university violated the state of Indiana's public records law by refusing to release campus police records, according to the South Bend Tribune.
ESPN reporter Paula Lavigne made requests to the university in September and November for Notre Dame Security Police incident reports and logs related to student athletes, both of which were rejected by Notre Dame.
ESPN submitted two recent opinions by Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt, who argued that the Notre Dame Security Police falls under the jurisdiction of Indiana's public records law, just like other campus and non-campus police departments in Indiana.
"The police force is established by the governing body of a private institution, but their powers come from the state of Indiana. I am not comfortable saying an organization can hide behind the cloak of secrecy when they have the power to arrest and create criminal records and exercise the state's police powers," Britt said.
Notre Dame is arguing that professional police departments at Indiana private universities don't meet the definition of public agencies and are therefore exempt from the state's public records law.
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