With the help of journalism students and instructors at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, the University of North Texas and Humboldt State University, the SPLC sent out identical letters to 95 public and 20 private institutions in early to mid-February. Some schools required an additional form. The request asked for the total number of complaints investigated by the student disciplinary body, the number of those cases resulting in various types of punishment, any breakdown by the nature of the complaints, data related to sexual assault complaints, and the number of cases referred to the student disciplinary body by the police. SPLC Executive Director Frank LoMonte said the request focused on institutions' internal disciplinary procedures because in some cases these "mini-court systems" have evolved to deal with serious criminal complaints in near-secrecy.

"We decided to see what disciplinary records we could obtain, first, because we suspect there is quite a bit of confusion about the obligation to disclose some disciplinary information — or at least redacted statistical information — and second, because we think it may be surprising to the public how many serious incidents beyond smoking in the rec room are handled through these non-criminal channels," he said.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, institutions receiving any federal funding are not allowed to reveal students' educational records or personally identifiable information, other than directory information, without prior written consent. The request was tailored to the SPLC's interpretation of FERPA so no parts of the request could be denied on those grounds. Though private schools are not subject to open government laws, they were surveyed to see whether they would voluntarily release information related to their students' safety.

Responses to the request ranged from numbered responses complete with charts to no response at all. However, the largest group comprises the public schools still processing the request. This includes schools that have provided periodic updates by phone or e-mail along with those that provided an acknowledgment letter with no further response at this point. SPLC attorney advocate Adam Goldstein said these institutions are approaching the end of what would be considered a "reasonable" response time under most states' laws.

"Especially for the request we're making, I'd be surprised if they couldn't do it in a month," he said.

John Osborn, a recent graduate who coordinated the Humboldt portion of the project, said students who had never filed a request before found it more challenging than they expected. He encouraged them to be persistent with the school officials so the request could not be purposely ignored or inadvertently lost in other paperwork.

"Every time they send you an e-mail and they give you whatever reason why they're not going to give you the records, push them on it," he said.

Even with plenty of experience requesting public documents, Osborn could not anticipate how institutions would respond. He was surprised that schools within the same state — and even state college system — responded to the same request in very different ways.

"You would get a variety of different responses, for example, when you talk to Fresno State and when you talk to Sacramento State and Humboldt State," he said. "They're all in the same system, but they don't appear to be coordinated at all when it comes to how to handle these kinds of requests."

University of North Texas student Kerry Solan learned the same lesson of persistence. She said the project was a good way to become familiar with the various state laws, which was an advantage when university officials were initially hesitant to provide information. Though every state has some kind of open records law, the details — such as response timeframe, fees and available documents — vary from state to state.

"It's important to head into these situations armed to the teeth with the nuances of the law and how far it can work for you," Solan said.

The SPLC is still following up with these schools and collecting data for a story that will be published in the spring issue of the Report. To submit your own records requests, use the SPLC's letter generator. Use the Open Government Guide from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to help understand the varying state laws. Here are some of the preliminary findings:

- Of 95 public schools, 27 responded with all requested documents, or nearly all with specific reasons for not providing certain parts. Forty schools are still processing the request.

- Fourteen public schools did not respond at all by March 5, when the SPLC gathered preliminary results: the University of Mississippi, the University of Oklahoma, Louisiana State University, Eastern Kentucky University, the University of Alabama, Fresno State University, University of California at San Diego, College of the Redwoods, the University of Oregon, Montclair State University, State University of New York-Albany, University of New Hampshire, North Carolina State University and the University of the District of Columbia.

- Five public schools denied the request. The University of Delaware denied the request because universities are exempted from the state open records law. Temple University, in Pennsylvania, also provided information about why it is exempt from the state open records law.

- Three schools cited FERPA as a reason to withhold some or all of the information: the University of Kentucky, the University of Texas and Sacramento State.

- Institutions with no central office for dealing with records requests frequently sent requesters through a maze of departments, or simply replied that the office did not maintain those records. Very few schools that provided documents required a fee. The University of Maryland did not respond until a second letter and then said the documents would cost $653.51. The University of Georgia said it would cost $136.

- Nine of 20 private schools, which are not subject to open records laws, did not respond at all. Of the 11 that did respond, six provided links or instructions to find some of the requested data online.

- Of four Ivy League schools surveyed, only Yale University responded at all. Yale provided a link to extensive information on the university's Web site.