The Student Government of Loyola Chicago (SGLC) recently passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) bill on Jan. 31, which will allow members of the Loyola community and the public to request documents related to SGLC functions starting in the 2023-24 school year. The FOIA bill is modeled after federal and state legislation that gives people access to documents from government agencies through a request process. The legislation was unanimously passed with several amendments to fix language in the bill and allow for members of the public to request documents. In the original draft, only members of the Loyola community could request documents. SGLC Senator Joseph Kosman, a junior political science major, authored the bill. He said the goal of the bill was to increase accessibility and accountability within SGLC by allowing members of the Loyola community to gain access to SGLC’s work. Kosman said under the bill, once an SGLC produced document is archived — meaning it goes through any legislative process and is scanned digitally — members of the community will be able to request it using a form. Some of these documents include resolutions SGLC has passed, budgetary documents and voting records, according to Kosman. Getting the FOIA bill passed wasn’t an overnight process, according to Kosman. The senator said it took him six months to get the bill onto the floor to be voted on. “We have to make sure that everyone knows about the legislation,” Kosman said. “We also have to receive suggestions, comments, concerns …
The Student Government of Loyola Chicago (SGLC) recently passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) bill on Jan. 31, which will allow members of the Loyola community and the public to request documents related to SGLC functions starting in the 2023-24 school year.
The FOIA bill is modeled after federal and state legislation that gives people access to documents from government agencies through a request process.
The legislation was unanimously passed with several amendments to fix language in the bill and allow for members of the public to request documents. In the original draft, only members of the Loyola community could request documents.
SGLC Senator Joseph Kosman, a junior political science major, authored the bill. He said the goal of the bill was to increase accessibility and accountability within SGLC by allowing members of the Loyola community to gain access to SGLC’s work.
Kosman said under the bill, once an SGLC produced document is archived — meaning it goes through any legislative process and is scanned digitally — members of the community will be able to request it using a form. Some of these documents include resolutions SGLC has passed, budgetary documents and voting records, according to Kosman.
Getting the FOIA bill passed wasn’t an overnight process, according to Kosman. The senator said it took him six months to get the bill onto the floor to be voted on.
“We have to make sure that everyone knows about the legislation,” Kosman said. “We also have to receive suggestions, comments, concerns beforehand, and we have to factor that into the piece that we’re looking to bring. Formatting is also a big thing. You have to make sure that your resolution or piece of legislation is formatted to the T.”
Kosman said the bill will open doors for Loyola students wanting to know more about SGLC documents but the bill does not grant complete transparency.
“Restrictions include documentation containing obviously personal addresses, phone numbers, financial details,” Kosman said. “Certainly information that is private to an individual in a sense.”
Kosman said if a document has private details on it, the FOIA bill stipulates those details can be redacted and the document can be released. This determination is made by the Chief Operations Officer (COO), the senator said.
Other documents not covered under FOIA include SGLC judicial proceedings as well as any documents which haven’t been archived yet, according to Kosman.
In order to obtain documents from SGLC, Kosman said the requesting party would fill out a form saying what documents they were requesting and who the documents would be sent to. From there the COO would review the request and either work to provide the documents or provide a reason why the request couldn’t be honored, according to Kosman.
Kosman said the bill still needs to be approved by the judicial branch and SGLC President before getting final approval from the Dean of Students as part of next year’s SGLC’s rules of governance.
SGLC Senator Mike Clauson, a co-sponsor of the bill, proposed clarifying amendments that ended up in the final document. He said he was glad to be part of the first legislation to pass this year, especially a bill as important as the FOIA.
“It’s a really great feeling,” Clauson said, “Especially since it’s my first year in student government.”
Kosman said his motivation for passing the bill is to make the SGLC more transparent.
“I want us to be an organization that works by and for the students,” Kosman said “I also want students to know that they are the ones who voted us in and we have to answer to them.”
Featured image by Aidan Cahill | The Phoenix
