A journalist sued the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its fundraising arm after the university denied his request for an athletic department consulting agreement that could shed more light on the name, image and likeness era of college athletics.
The lawsuit could also potentially answer a larger question about whether public university foundations are subject to Wisconsin’s public records law.
“There’s no good reason why UW-Madison should be using its foundation to effectively offshore public records,” journalist Daniel Libit told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Spokespeople for both UW-Madison and the UW Foundation said they hadn’t received the complaint and wouldn’t comment on pending litigation.
UW-Madison, UW Foundation deny records request for Altius contract
Libit, a UW-Madison alumnus who writes for Sportico, filed the lawsuit Wednesday after UW-Madison rejected his records request last fall. He asked for a copy of the contract UW-Madison had with Altius Sports Partners, a firm other large universities have hired to support student-athletes who can now profit from endorsement deals they strike.
UW-Madison told Libit it had no records because the UW Foundation had the contract. The foundation also didn’t provide the contract, saying it was a private entity exempt from Wisconsin’s public records law.