A state judge, clearly frustrated with Louisiana State University’s failure to comply with an order to turn over records related to its recent presidential search, on Tuesday ordered a local sheriff to seize the records, The Advocate, a newspaper in Baton Rouge, reported. But two deputies who were sent to the LSU system office to collect the records returned empty-handed.
When a deputy relayed the university’s response—that it does not have the records—to Judge Janice G. Clark of the Louisiana District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish, she responded, “Something is truly amiss. Do we need a federal marshal?”
The university says the records are in the possession of R. William Funk & Associates, the Dallas-based consulting firm that assisted in the recent closed search for a new leader. F. King Alexander was named in March as the sole finalist for the job, which combines the posts of chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus and president of the LSU system.
The Advocate is one of two Louisiana newspapers that are suing for access to records of the search, arguing that LSU violated the state’s public-records law by withholding the names of some 35 other candidates. Judge Clark, who is presiding over that lawsuit, ordered the university to turn over the records on April 30.
However, a separate lawsuit, filed by the editor of LSU’s student newspaper, The Daily Reveille, was heard by a different judge, and yielded a different decision. In that case, the judge ruled that only Mr. Alexander and 10 other candidates, whose names have been released, were formal applicants for the job.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, Judge Clark repeatedly expressed her impatience with the university, The Advocate reported. When Jimmy Faircloth, a lawyer representing the LSU board, told her that the deputies had “looked in the wrong place” for the records, the judge shot back that she did not care to hear anything further from him. Later, when Mr. Faircloth tried to speak again, Judge Clark cut him off, saying, “Thank you so much, sit down.”
But a resolution could be in the works. After a lengthy closed-door meeting with lawyers for both sides, Judge Clark said Tuesday evening that the lawyers would work the rest of the week in an attempt to reach an agreement that would have LSU provide the records to the judge, pending further proceedings in the case. She ordered them to report back to her on Monday about their progress.
