Antioch University Threatens Legal Action Against The Antioch Papers
The Antioch Papers, an investigative journalism and media arts website, has received a chilling threat to its right to free speech from Antioch University. Antioch University has demanded the removal of all (allegedly) confidential and proprietary documents from The Antioch Papers website under the threat of future legal action .
The Antioch Papers staff members Tim Noble and Brian Springer responded to this demand stating, “The Antioch Papers follows the long tradition of First Amendment protected speech established by the Pentagon Papers. Antioch University and its Board of Trustees are public figures involved in a discussion about higher education—public figures constantly mentioned in the national and local press. The public’s right to know supersedes Antioch University’s assertions of private claims and private matters, especially since these materials were not ‘purloined’ as you persistently claim. Your concerns lie with Antioch University’s Board of Trustees’ inability to control its administrators and employees and not with The Antioch Papers.”
— Noble/Springer (see attached letter)
ap_press_full_final.pdf [292.45KB],
Documents
Excerpts from Antioch University Attorneys Letter of February 29, 2008
“I am writing to demand that you remove these documents, and any summaries of the contents of these documents, from your website and that you forward to me any copies in your possession.
“The Antioch University Board of Trustees has not waived its attorney-client privilege for the documents you have purloined, posted and re-published. In Ohio, the attorney-client privilege ‘bestows upon a client the privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent others from disclosing, confidential communications made between the attorney and client in the course of seeking or rendering legal advice.’… …Under Ohio law, the client ‘is the only one who has the power to relinquish’ its attorney-client privilege. … …The Board has not done so. The client here is the Antioch University Board of Trustees – not its individual members, but the Board as a whole. The Board has gone to great lengths to maintain the confidentiality of its communications with its attorneys. The Board has not permitted the public disclosure of the documents you have published. Nor does the Board accede now to your publication of these confidential communications. Let me be clear – you are acting in contravention of the Board’s legally-protected privilege.”
Excerpts from The Antioch Papers letter of response
“…we consider all communications with your law firm public information, and all past and future correspondence will enter the open archive at The Antioch Papers.
“You should be aware that your letter (first paragraph) misquotes Antioch Confidential – The Article. Your quotation changes the verb tense of the article’s word “were” to your word “[a]re.” By replacing the word “were” with “[a]re” within the quotation, you have significantly altered the meaning of the original article’s sentence. Furthermore, you neglect to notate your deletion of text from the original article.
“Let us also be clear, the document AHCRRBAS (Ad Hoc Committee Report and Related Board Action Summary), the related closed-session Board meeting minutes, and other documents at The Antioch Papers were not purloined, as you claim. Therefore, your statements regarding the attorney-client privileged nature of these documents are incorrect.”