University of Alabama finally releases names of ticket recipients

PR Person of the Year - Deborah Lane of the University of Alabama. No person this year has kept important information away from the Alabama public for a longer period of time with weaker excuses.

On October 5, 2010 the president of the University of Alabama Dr. Robert Witt looked at my request and must have laughed.

My request was rather simple: I wanted the University to release the names of those public officials who would be receiving free Iron Bowl tickets and a parking pass for the then-upcoming Auburn/Alabama football game.  I thought Dr. Witt might have to wait until the November election to determine who should be added and subtracted from the list, but as it turned out the University was always going to give the tickets to those in office on January 1,2010!  That meant he knew who was on the list when I made my request.

He should have written me back on October 5 and said, “I’ll get this information out immediately.”  Isn’t that what a university president should do?  Isn’t a university about enlightening people and serving the people who help maintain the university?  There weren’t any state secrets involved with this information.

instead Dr. Witt wrote me back that he would send my request to the Office of Counsel.  You gotta be kiddin’ me.

He took this step in hopes the lawyers would find a way to keep the public in the dark.  Dr. Witt’s view of leadership obviously doesn’t place a great importance on transparency. Witt thought if he could delay me.  He thought I would go away.

After a month and no word from the University, I called the head lawyer at the Office of Counsel.  He sounded sincerely confused when I explained my request.  He knew nothing about it. Did Witt really send it like he said?  Or did the Office of Counsel put it at the bottom of the “Not Urgent” pile?  He asked me to send my request again this time to him.  A few days later on Nov. 8, I get an email from Deborah Lane.  She is a PR person at the University.  She said my request was forwarded to her and that, “Work on the list of officials and their seating locations will begin in the near future.”

Ms. Lane is a very, very deliberate public relations person.  She finally gathered and formatted this easily obtainable information and emailed it to me on DECEMBER 23, 2010. This was the last day of work for most University employees.  It was also a dead zone for releasing information that might be of an embarrassing nature.  Who cared about this information right before Christmas Eve?  It needed to be out before the November election.  I begged Ms. Lane to get it out before the November 26 Iron Bowl.  She was asleep at the wheel.  She wasn’t about to embarrass the University or the political figures accepting the tickets.  It’s a shame when public relations people like Ms. Lane think that manipulation of the public is the centerpiece of their job. Ms. Lane and her boss Dr. Witt both lost their way on this matter because they failed to respect the Alabama public.

Anyway, the manner in the University handled this whole matter was a disgrace.

Here is the list that took 3 months to prepare:

Tags: 2010 Iron Bowl, Deborah Lane, University of Alabama