By GREG LAROSE, Louisiana Illuminator/Tiger Rag Magazine
Three media outlets that sued LSU to obtain records that detail how its athletics department spends public, revenue share money on student-athletes have agreed to end the case now that a new state law shields that information from disclosure.
Louisiana Illuminator’s Piper Hutchinson, Chris Nakamoto with WAFB-TV and Tiger Rag executive editor Todd Horne filed suit last March against LSU, which had rejected public records requests from the journalists. They sought records showing how LSU uses the revenue share money its athletics programs generate that are legally considered state dollars from sources such as ticket sales, media deals and corporate sponsorships, to pay student athletes.
Division I college athletics departments like LSU are part of a federal court settlement that allows them to share their self-generated revenue with student-athletes. This money stream is separate from the Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) deals players make with sponsors, which are private arrangements already exempt from Louisiana’s public records law.
Once the journalists’ lawsuit was filed, state lawmakers advanced legislation to prevent public access to self-generated revenue records. Act 818, sponsored by Rep. Tehmi Chassion (Democrat-Lafayette), went into effect on June 8 with Governor Jeff Landry’s signature. In the final days of the legislative session this summer, lawmakers added a retroactivity clause to the bill. While the reporters and their attorney believe this clause is unconstitutional, it essentially neutralized their lawsuit.
Scott Sternberg, a First Amendment attorney representing the reporters, said LSU agreed to cover their court filing costs in exchange for the plaintiffs dropping their lawsuit.
“In Louisiana, our constitution preserves the right of access to public documents, but in this case, taxpayer money would be wasted if we continued on, and so the suit is being dismissed,” Sternberg said.
In court filings, lawyers for LSU argued the revenue records being sought were covered under the NIL exemption to the state’s public records law and protected under federal student privacy law. If the revenue-sharing information was made public, LSU’s teams would be put at a competitive disadvantage in the student-athlete marketplace, the attorneys said.
Federal student privacy laws do not provide an exception for all student records. LSU has in the past provided student records in response to reporters’ requests, including student-athlete information. The university has also previously made public information on how much it pays its coaches and top administrators without mentioning any competitive concerns.
Historically, the state has treated self-generated money from its universities as public money subject to wide scrutiny. Lawmakers are required to approve how these resources are spent.
Throughout the course of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs and their legal team were subject to a harassment campaign on social media. The messages included violent threats, some sexual in nature. One plaintiff was physically assaulted and another had their property vandalized after the lawsuit was filed.
The threats became prevalent enough for Chassion to condemn the behavior in a floor speech seeking support for his legislation.
Act 818 is the latest in a string of new exemptions to Louisiana’s public records law in recent years. Most recently, state lawmakers have voted to withhold details on the governor’s schedule and travel, economic development negotiations and higher education leadership candidates.
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