A former OU lawyer has taken legal action against the OU Foundation, which denied a group of residents’ open information request regarding the University North Park project.
Fred Gipson was preparing for legal action when he last spoke to The Daily and has now taken it. Gipson said he filed suit against the foundation on June 6 and is waiting to hear back.
Gipson said the foundation refused the initial open records request because it’s a private entity. Despite this, Gipson said he thinks the line between the university and the foundation is blurry.
“When you read our petition and see the attachments, you’ll see that (the foundation) freely (takes) assets -- use both university employees and university property -- to further the university foundation, “ Gipson said. “They are really, for most purposes, one and the same.”
Gipson said he expects the matter to go to court and is optimistic about his chances of winning, using a recent court case in New Mexico as an example. In May, a judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff in another open-records case involving the University of New Mexico and its foundation, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
The New Mexico judge ruled that the UNM Foundation was part of UNM and therefore a public entity. Gipson said he believes the OU Foundation the UNM Foundation are structured similarly.
