Court rules for mediation in Ohio college records suit

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered a private college and a student journalist to try to resolve the student’s lawsuit asking the college to turn over arrest records and other information.

Anna Schiffbauer, editor of a news website at Otterbein College in the Columbus suburb of Westerville, contends the college police department is a public office covered by the state’s open-records laws.

Student journalists at the liberal-arts college have battled Otterbein over the release of records since the campus security force became a full-fledged police department of state-certified officers in 2011.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor ordered mediation in the case today.

Otterbein has argued it is exempt from public-records laws as a private institution and federal law requires it to protect certain information about students from release.