Texas district judge rules UT-Austin must hand over security camera files

TEXAS â€” A lawsuit against the Texas Attorney General challenging his ruling that a university release security camera information was dismissed Feb. 27.

District Court Judge Paul R. Davis Jr. granted a request for summary judgement from Attorney General Greg Abbott, which ended the suit against him. The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas System filed suit against Abbott on Jan. 15 after he ruled that the university must disclose files about security cameras that the UT-Austin student newspaper, The Daily Texan, had requested.

"We're pleased the court has recognized that the UT-System doesn't have a legal basis for withholding the information they were asked to release," Abbott said. "I look forward to seeing this case resolved so that the school newspaper and the public can finally get the information they deserve."

In October, The Daily Texan filed a freedom of information request with the university, asking for the location, cost and specifications of security cameras on campus. The university refused and promptly referred the matter to the attorney general. Abbott ruled that the files were not exempt from the Texas Public Information Act, after which the university filed suit.

"We were very pleased with the judge's ruling in the case," Daily Texan Managing Editor Ryan Pittman said. "We felt all along that what we requested was public, or it should be public."

The university has 30 days to appeal the decision or hand over the records.

On Feb. 28 the University of Texas again filed suit against the attorney general after he ruled that files provided to the Centers for Disease Control on biological and chemical agents, on which the university does research, should be released to The Daily Texan