A former OU lawyer is preparing for legal action against the OU Foundation after a group of Norman citizens had a Freedom of Information Act request denied.
Fred Gipson, former OU counsel and current Democratic candidate for Oklahoma’s Fourth Congressional District, said he believes he has enough evidence to bring suit against the OU Foundation over the release of the documents.
The documents were requested by a concerned group of Norman citizens hoping to learn more information about the proposed University North Park development. The citizens were denied in a letter sent to Gipson from OU Foundation President Guy Patton, in which he said he was “surprised” to see the requests in the first place.
“Consequently you already should be well aware of the fact that the foundation is separate and independent from the university and is not a public body,” Patton wrote to Gipson in the letter. “Because the foundation is not a public body, internal documents and information maintained by the foundation are not public records and are not subject to public access and review under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act.”
Gipson believes that Norman citizens deserve to have access to the documents in the request due to the fact they will be contributing to the University North Park project if passed.
“I think it’s a mistake for them to refuse the request and deny it. But I was not surprised that was the position they took,” Gipson said. “I think I have enough evidence to show that the separation between the foundation and the university is not the same as many other universities and foundations and therefore the foundation should be treated for open records requests as a state agency.”
Gipson said he is still optimistic as the group of citizens originally making the request is still waiting to potentially receive documents from other groups around Norman.
“The other entities have not denied our request,” Gipson said. “So we’re going to see what we get from the university, from the city and from the board of county commissioners and then we’re going to sit down, see what we have, and decide what the next step would be.”
