Ongoing legal battle makes situation worse

What are they trying to hide?
That’s the lingering question as members of the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees indicate they plan to keep fighting the release of documents related to their decision not to renew the contract of former President Laurie Nichols.
It’s a question on the minds of the journalists seeking the records, of course. But ask any Wyoming resident who’s been paying attention to the situation, and they’ll almost certainly tell you they want to know, too.
And it’s surely on the minds of those interested in applying to replace Ms. Nichols. After all, the state’s only four-year university has developed quite a reputation lately for its lack of stability at the top. Four presidents in less than a decade will do that.
Yet there must be some form of impropriety or malfeasance that is causing these appointed leaders to dig in their heals, lawyer up and fight the release of emails from four of the most powerful members of the board, right? It can’t be simple stubbornness, can it?
Did Ms. Nichols do something improper, and the trustees are trying to protect her reputation? Were the trustees involved in something illegal, and Ms. Nichols threatened to go public with it? Did two powerful leaders on the Laramie campus get cross-wise with one another, and trustees were forced to choose which one stayed and which one went away? Or were the trustees simply unable to get the university’s first female president to do their bidding, so they decided she had to go?
Whatever it was, it must be serious for the university to spend so much time and money fighting to maintain its veil of secrecy. But without the light of public disclosure, everyone is left to speculate, and that only makes matters worse.
In her Jan. 3 ruling, Albany County District Judge Tori Kricken clearly spelled out why she believes UW officials must turn over the thousands of emails requested by a Casper Star-Tribune reporter. After reviewing the documents in question, the judge said the so-called “deliberative process privilege” doesn’t apply to the records sought because they don’t contain any discussions related to whether the contract would be renewed.
Also, most of the emails in question can’t be withheld due to attorney-client privilege just because a university lawyer was party to the communication.
Judge Kricken also ruled that records related to an investigation of Ms. Nichols authorized by the trustees last year should be made public. But since Ms. Nichols has said she didn’t know such an investigation was happening, and she was unable to participate, it was done in violation of UW regulations. Is that what the trustees are trying to cover up?
Besides creating distrust between UW trustees and the people they serve, this lingering dark cloud likely creates a barrier to recruitment in a variety of positions, from the top down. As the university searches for a permanent replacement for Ms. Nichols, we have to wonder how many highly qualified candidates are declining to apply for fear the same thing may happen to them. But who else is deciding not to come to Laramie because of the current political environment there?
Of course, no one’s forcing the university to appeal Judge Kricken’s ruling to the Wyoming Supreme Court. If they wanted to, UW trustees could simply hand over the requested documents, answer the uncomfortable questions that would surely follow, take their lumps and move on.
Maybe their legal team is telling them they’re likely to win on appeal. Maybe they keep hoping this will all blow over and be forgotten (sorry, but with the CS-T, WyoFile, the Laramie Boomerang and this newspaper all party to the lawsuit, that’s not going to happen). Maybe it’s a delay tactic in order to complete the hiring process before the records are released (after all, it’s highly unlikely an appeal would be heard and decided by the state’s highest court before early 2021).
Regardless of the reason, the most frustrating part of all of this is that once again public officials in Wyoming are using public money to try to hide public documents from the people they are supposed to be serving. And, ironically, while state funds are being spent on this effort, two of the state’s top five elected officials – Gov. Mark Gordon and State Auditor Kristi Racines – are advocating greater transparency in government.
It’s time for the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees to end the legal challenges and come clean. If they refuse, and the Supreme Court eventually sides with public disclosure, they should all resign in disgrace. Because UW students, faculty and staff – and the state as a whole – deserve leaders who don’t have to hide their actions or their reasons for
taking them.