When Tom Trimboli brings a group of University officials together for training on the ins and outs of Ohio’s public records laws, he knows he has his work cut out for him.

With two dozen exceptions to what is deemed a public record in Ohio, the laws are complex, he said, and can be painful for even lawyers to dig through, so he likes to just cover the basics.

“We give them training on it in general, but I don’t train them to be a lawyer,” said Trimboli, assistant to the president in the General Counsel office at BGSU. “I tell them what the red flags are, what to look out for.”

Since he started at the University nine months ago, Trimboli said he’s informed groups like the Board of Trustees on their obligations under these state laws–known as the “Sunshine Laws.” Now he conducts training sessions for other University personnel on a “by request” basis only.

But that’s something, he says, he’d like to change.

“For now, I’m trying the best I can, as requested, to go out and inform the University community about the [Sunshine Laws],” he said. “I’ll try to formalize it and do it with some frequency as I get oriented here.”

University employees like Donna Pulschen, student services counselor in the Office of Registration and Records, say that this training should come sooner rather than later.

“Specifically with Sunshine [Laws], we don’t have any training on that,” she said. “If we’re supposed to be doing these kinds of things, I don’t know that I knew that.”

The BG News found that a lack of education about the laws was a main sticking point for many University department and administrative offices on campus that were part of an unannounced audit for public records conducted by staff members of the newspaper just before spring break. The BG News sent more than a dozen staffers to specific offices on campus, within the city of Bowling Green and Wood County to request specific public records like police blotters, 911 logs, telephone records of governmental offices, expense reports of top administrators and government employees, job descriptions and BGSU student directory information.

The project was conducted in recognition of the first Sunshine Week–a national week of awareness of the Sunshine Laws that allow citizens to obtain certain government records. The week, ending Saturday, was led by a national coalition of media organizations, journalism groups, universities and the American Library Association in a push for government openness.

The BG News, along with many other news outlets nationwide, featured daily stories last week by the Associated Press and other organizations highlighting public records laws and their importance in a democracy.

Though Pulschen’s office complied with the BG News request for the addresses and phone numbers of University graduate students, she’s convinced that the female student employee who processed the request didn’t do so because she knew about her obligation under the law, she said.

“Maybe she just gave it to you just because, not with any influence of the Sunshine Laws,” she said.

The on-campus audit overall, revealed a significant lack of training for employees on the state laws, with the most frequent violation occurring when students requesting the information were asked why they needed it.

Under Ohio’s Sunshine Laws, those requesting public records information also shouldn’t be asked–and aren’t required to give–their names, show an ID or sign a release form to receive the data.

Though some employees whose offices were audited, like Dale Klopfer, chair of the psychology department, recall having some training on Sunshine Laws at BGSU in the past, they admit it’s been “years.”

The lack of recent training among academic departments at the University doesn’t surprise Bruce Cadwallader, committee chair of the Society of Professional Journalists Legal Defense Fund and a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. The Fund is an account used to provide legal or financial assistance to journalists battling First Amendment issues–like public access to government records and proceedings. Exactly half of the cases the group has gotten involved with since Cadwallader became chair in October have been student press cases and most often, he said, involve access to public records in an academic setting.

“Your audit is not unusual,” he said. “It’s something we deal with as journalists every day.”

City Editor Bob Moser and the Associated Press contributed to this report.