Mark Miller's curiosity always seems to stir up trouble.
The physics freshman was investigated by the FBI and Secret Service last semester for filing an open records request for maps of steam tunnels beneath the campus. Now, another of his requests has caused the state attorney general's office to sue itself.
In a complaint filed over the summer, the UT System - represented by the attorney general's litigation division - sued the agency for upholding Miller's request for documents regarding webcams in classrooms.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's name appears in the petition both as the plaintiff's lawyer and as the defendant.
The lawsuit seeks to seal the information "in light of the sensitive nature of the requested information and the compelling interests that would be compromised by disclosure," according to the petition.
Abbott's office not only enforces open records laws for state agencies, it also represents the same agencies in court. This arrangement sometimes makes the agency take the awkward step of suing itself.
UT legal officials and attorney general officials could not be reached for comment.
"I'm stubborn," Miller said of his habit of asking UT officials for sometimes obscure information. "The fact they're so resistant to giving [information] makes it more interesting."
Miller said he asked UT officials why the webcams exist but never was given a satisfactory explanation. He previously asked for, and received, a list of webcams.
A security systems engineer told the Texan last year that these cameras keep watch over large lecture halls and expensive classroom equipment.
Abbott's decision, dated July 1, upheld Miller's request on a technicality: The University missed its 10-business day deadline for asking Abbott to rule on the request.
The University "clearly intended to seek protection of responsive documents," according to the petition, which cites three open records exceptions from state law.
In particular, the System's petition claims an unresolved lawsuit over another request puts some of what Miller wanted off limits. That request, filed by The Daily Texan in 2002, was for locations and operating hours of surveillance cameras. But in that dispute between Abbott and UT officials, a private firm is representing the System.
Miller's experiences with tunnels and cameras show how the University's open records stances take fears of terrorism into account. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 put "critical infrastructure" information, which might include tunnel maps, out of the reach of the federal Freedom of Information Act. Such laws made Lyndon Baines Johnson Library archivists remove plans of a dam from public shelves.
UT arguments against requests about surveillance cameras, biological agents and underground tunnels sometimes invoked the USA Patriot Act and the phrase "national security."
After Miller's request for inforamation about tunnels, federal agents visited the campus to study its vulnerabilities. Some UT officials have said this meeting was how the Austin Joint Terrorism Task Force became aware of the request.
"Frankly, I have a level of concern about providing that information about campus integrity," Steven Kraal, associate vice president of campus planning and facilities management, said of the tunnel maps. "I think that we have a significant asset that can be compromised if the information was made generally available."
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