The University of Kentucky Open Records Office has denied a request filed by the Kentucky Kernel regarding non-UK student visitors checking into on-campus residence halls.

The request was filed as part of a Kernel investigation of residence hall visitation protocol compliance following the arrest of Chase McGuire, who was charged with rape and attempted strangulation of a UK student on Sept. 25.

The Kernel requested records the university may have of non-UK student guests of Chellgren Hall on Sept. 20, 2024, and of any occasion where McGuire signed into a residence hall this academic year.

The UK Open Records Office said providing records of non-UK student guests would be “considered an invasion of personal privacy” under a Kentucky statute of the Open Records Act. According to the UK Open Records Office, the records requested were considered “preliminary” and therefore exempt. 

According to Michael Abate, the Kernel’s attorney, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in September that information cannot be withheld due to ongoing investigations.

The preliminary records exemption, Abate said, applies only to preliminary policies or proposals being considered by an agency, and even then, ceases to apply after a decision is made. 

“This (the requested records) is nothing like that…” Abate said. “The preliminary records exemption has absolutely no application to this case at all.”

Abate said exemptions under the law are not mandatory and even if the exemptions UK cited in their denial apply, there are no legal restrictions on withholding the requested records. They are voluntary.

“It begs the question of ‘why are they going out of their way to make up exemptions that don’t apply to avoid releasing information that they should be disclosing to students and the public?’” Abate said, “That’s a bad faith suggestion.”

In addition to their reasoning not aligning with the law, the UK Office of Open Records did not meet the deadline of five days required to respond to a records request, according to Kentucky Kernel editor-in-chief Abbey Cutrer.

“The Kernel believes that transparency and truth are crucial to the well-being of students on our campus. The records I requested pertain to a serious matter of student safety and it’s concerning that UK is using exemptions that don’t apply in order to withhold them,” Cutrer said.

Cutrer said in this case, the public interest in the matter outweighs the privacy concerns protecting McGuire who was charged with rape. 

The Kernel has responded to UK and asked them to reconsider the denial.

“Our first obligation as journalists is to the truth and our loyalty is to the people,” Cutrer said. “The students have a right to know if protocols are being followed in dorms and I am determined to find the truth.”