The Daily Utah Chronicle - News
Beckham gets bent
By Shalee Liston
Issue: 9/17/04

David met Goliath at the State Records Committee hearing yesterday when animal-rights activist Jeremy Beckham faced the U in a legal dispute to gain access to records relating to primate experiments.

Goliath won.

"This is only the beginning. This does not stop the fight for animal rights," Beckham said. "It makes me not want to live in Utah anymore. This is an example that democracy is eroding."

Committee members said they would not waive the fee of $299 that the U required Beckham to pay for information he requested on primate experiments.

The committee stated the Government Records Access and Management Act permits the U to charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of duplicating records.

Beckham, a U student and president of the Utah Primate Freedom Project, decided to bring his case before the committee. This happened after the U sent him a bill, stating he would have to pay what he believes is an "unreasonable amount."

Beckham asked the committee to waive the fee and said the "university uses the prices as a deterrent for students looking for information on university experiments."

Beckham started his quest to get detailed documents on experiments conducted on Macaque monkeys, baboons and marmosets at the U and went before the State Records Committee in January of this year.

The committee decided Beckham had a right to the documents, but the U would be able to edit certain information.

Committee members said that any expenses resulting from the redaction are required to be agreed upon by both Beckham and the U.

On Feb. 20, Beckham received a letter from U Legal Representative Phyllis Vetter with a fee of $299.08 for the requested information.

Vetter wrote that Beckham would have to pay $137.35 for "legal review," $126.67 for "technical review" and $35.06 for "physical reduction" in order to obtain the records.

Vetter told the committee that GRAMA "gives the U the right to charge a fee for the duplication of the records" and said the university "tries not to charge anything but the price of photo-copies unless it becomes a burden."

"Who determines when it is going to become a burden?" Committee member Linda Thatcher asked.

Vetter said, "if there is a trend of requests," U Records Officer Greg Thompson and other administrators "ultimately make the decision on what to charge for the records."

After the hearing, Vetter said she was "pleased with the results" and "that the committee's decision strikes a reasonable balance between the cost to the U and the cost to people requesting records."

Beckham, however, believes that the committee's decision "offers any institution a blank check because now activists can be charged hundreds for information."

Though Beckham's financial situation keeps him from being able to take the U to District Court, he said the "decision was outrageous."

"If the U is hoping to squelch our efforts, they are going to fail."

U students Lidya Hardy and Kim Bowman testified at the hearing about their similar experiences when they tried to get records information on animal testing at the university.

During the hearing, Hardy told the committee that the U wanted "$737 for a list of cats and dogs the U experiments on."

Bowman was also sent a letter that stated he would have to pay more than $200 for details on one of the marmosets at the Animal Resource Center.

Vetter told the committee "Hardy did not request a fee waiver" and added that the hearing was "not about animal testing" but about "Beckham's request for a fee waiver."

"Primates are not dogs and cats," she said.

sliston@chronicle.utah.edu