Erasmus Baxter and Julia Furukawa held a press conference with Mike Hiestand, senior legal council with the student press law center, to announce the lawsuit they have filed against Western. Students, staff and local news stations observed and asked questions. MacKenzie Dexter // AS Review
By MacKenzie Dexter
CW: The following article mentions sexual assault
Western journalism students Erasmus Baxter, Julia Furukawa and alumna Asia Fields announced they are filing a lawsuit against Western on Thursday, May 30. They filed this lawsuit to urge the university to release the names of students who have been found or convicted of violent offenses or sexual misconduct.
The lawsuit comes after the students discovered that Western has redacted the names of those who committed an offense. They argue that Western is violating the Washington Public Records Act, which requires the release of records except when specifically exempted, which Baxter, Furukawa and Fields argue are not. Western has been under investigation by the Department of Education since 2015 due to their handling of sexual assault cases. The lawsuit was filed May 1 at the Whatcom County Superior Court. Baxter, Furukawa and Fields are represented by Attorney William Crittenden, as well as advised by Mike Hiestand from the Student Press Law Center.
Baxter explained that this process began in 2018 when the Western Front reported a story in which Western readmitting a student suspended for sexual assault. Baxter requested the record, but noticed the name of the person had been redacted. He said that the journalism students thought it had been a mistake that the names were redacted on the public files. However, this was not a mistake. Baxter submitted a records request to see if Western would release the names, but they did not. The students attempted to work with the administration multiple times before taking legal action, which was a last resort.
Fields said that they talked with Dolapo Akinrinade, public records officer, but Western would not budge. Over the course of the year, Fields, Furukawa and Baxter continued to submit requests, but were met with the same results.
“We sought that information in an effort to understand if this was a trend and whether perpetrators and violators had gone on to do further harm,” Furukawa said. “The point of getting these names is not vindictive, it’s to ensure that the systems intended to provide justice on campus are working correctly.”
Fields said that while she and Baxter were editors for the Western Front, they had multiple stories, one in 2017 and 2018, about students being readmitted after a sexual assault finding or conviction. Fields explained how it opened their eyes to how Western handles sexual assault cases. It was after that the students discovered that under federal and state law, citing the Washington Public Records Act, Western was not supposed to be concealing the names of students found responsible of sexual misconduct.
“It’s really in their [students’] best interest to have access to this information and to have their student journalists be able to see the information and pursue stories,” Fields said. “It’s in students’ best interests to know what is going on behind these closed doors, where the system operates.”
Baxter said that protecting survivors of sexual assault was a top priority going into this.
“This is about the names of students found responsible [of assault]. We value the privacy of survivors very highly, that is very important. The law allows [Western] to withhold information that would compromise those identities and we in no way want to mess with that or challenge that,” Baxter said.
Furukawa said how the student outcry over how Western was handling sexual assault cases was a reason they are pursuing this lawsuit.
“There were students on campus who had to walk past the person who assaulted them in order to get their education,” Furukawa said. “We didn’t know if this was something happening more often and that there were student survivors who didn’t feel like they could speak up.”
Furukawa made it clear that they do not want to out a survivor and their story, it is to see if there are more cases where students are being readmitted to Western and what the justification behind it is.
“This would help us to understand what the disciplinary procedures are for these kinds of offenses and whether they really match up to what the offense is,” Furukawa said.
Baxter said they are doing this because of how the Western community has responded to the decisions around sexual misconduct, as well as the response to Western readmitting students who have committed sexual misconduct. He said that the Western community deserves more transparency in the process. He also said students need to be heard over concerns those responsible of sexual misconduct returning to campus.
“We’re doing this because it is our jobs as journalists, but our jobs as journalists is to respond to what the community wants and what the community needs,” Baxter said.
After the 2017 story about the student convicted of sexual assault being readmitted, students lead protests on campus in response to Western’s decision to readmit the student.
“It feels like we are the people listening to what people want, not the school,” Furukawa said.
Furukawa said this lawsuit is a daunting process, especially since they are busy students with limited resources. She said that the support they have received from the Student Press Law Center and professors has been very helpful during this time.
Fields said that even though she is an alumna, she is more than happy to be a part of this case.
“The lawsuit definitely isn’t just about Western, it’s about making sure that public colleges throughout the state of Washington are acting in the best interest of their students and campuses,” Fields said. “It’s also about being transparent about this information that is so vital to student safety and really the sense of trust that students have in administrators.”
Paul Cocke, director of the office of university communications and marketing, shared Western’s statement on the lawsuit.
“It is the University’s position that redactions were in compliance with the Washington State Public Records Act. The University will respond to the complaint in Whatcom County Superior Court as part of the legal process,” Cocke said in an email.
According to Baxter, Western responded to the lawsuit in which they denied the request Baxter, Furukawa and Fields made, but asked they be awarded legal fees. Baxter said they will be asking the university to re-file.