To support her charge against an instructor, a former student asked a college to hand over every complaint ever filed against him – and more. Did the school have to comply?

Adrien Briggs said John Francis sexually harassed her while she was a student at Columbus State Community College. In her suit against the college’s board of trustees, she asked to school to provide “every document relevant to any student complaint/concern lodged against [him].” She also wanted his class rosters for the four years prior to the alleged harassment.

The college argued that the request was overbroad, ambiguous and vague. It also claimed disclosure was barred by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Prior complaints of sexual harassment against the instructor were relevant and needed to be handed over, the court decided. But the school didn’t need to produce prior complaints that addressed completely different issues, such as a grade dispute.

The school wasn’t required to produce the class rosters, the court added, because there wasn’t enough evidence to show they were relevant to Briggs’s claims.

And FERPA didn’t bar the release of relevant documents, the court concluded. That law protects “student records,” and sexual harassment complaints against school employees don’t fit that definition.

Cite: Briggs v. Board of Trustees Columbus State Community College.

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Tags: Columbus State Community College, discovery, sexual harassment