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Old 08-20-2008
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andy764383 andy764383 is offline
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Re: University won't open Obama-related records now

Quote:
Originally Posted by goober View Post
So I guess you don't believe in private property rights.
Evidently, you don't read. This has already been answered.

Quote:
These records are still the property of the donor, and the donor has the right to do whatever he wants with them.
When he transfers ownership to the University, then it's up to the University to decide.
If the University seems to be bending over backwards to please the donor, well, that's just common sense, when you want more donations, you don't want a story going around that a donor is sorry he donated to the University. That could inhibit future donations.
Maybe this will help you out:
Quote:
The flimsy manufactured excuse - most likely provided to the library by the University's general counsel - is that the University does not have a "deed of gift" which the university contends is required for it to, legitimately, claim possession of the archived material.

Unfortunately, this is a bad reading of the law.

The only question to be answered, really, is what was the intent of the donor? Did the donor intend to give the University the thousands of pages of material related to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge? If so, then the gift is perfectly valid, the material belongs to the University and should be made available to researchers (including both journalists and academics).
This school is a publicly supported institution and must follow the law. Not that in Chicago that means anything, but for the rest of us unwashed masses, it's important.
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