UC Davis Chancellor’s Office:

When I arrived at the Chancellor’s Office, I spoke to two secretaries at the front desk. I explained that I wanted to request some public records, specifically the Form 700 and ethics training completion for the chancellor and vice chancellor. They became confused and did not know what these forms were or where they were available. They asked me why I wanted to look at the forms. They were unable to produce the documents since they were clearly not familiar with them. They told me that the documents were probably available on the school’s website and that I should check there. I was unable to get a more specific recommendation, like what part of the website I should go to. I was unable to locate the documents online and have not received them. I called the office a day later to ask again but was unable to reach anyone even though it was regular business hours.

UC Davis Police Department:

The police department was very responsive and easy to deal with. I entered their waiting room and was helped promptly. When I explained that I was looking to view public records of recent incidents, the officer told me that the information was available on a clipboard behind me in the waiting room. Sure enough, there was a clipboard there that was prominently labeled as being the media crime log. It contained all necessary information that described recent incidents the police responded to. The officer I talked to explained that after a certain amount of time, older incidents were removed from the clipboard, but that amount of time was much longer than the 14 days I was looking for.

CalAware Reaction (Terry Francke, General Counsel):

UC Davis Chancellor’s Office:

Secretaries in the chancellor’s office had never heard of Form 700s, asked the auditor’s purpose in requesting them, but offered no further help other than that they might be found on the university’s website, which they are not. The forms were never produced. By contrast, an acknowledgement letter with respect to the written requests arrived fairly promptly, but with hedged reactions to the request for a number of records-indicating that information on employee discipline, plans for spending stimulus funds, athletic and arts scholarships awarded, and price markups for required textbooks and materials at the campus bookstore might be confidential. But other than this communication, no determination letter or even an announcement of extension had been provided 25 days after the request.

Sam Pearson can be reached at [email protected].