The law professor who says the Little Rock law school is violating Arkansas' open-records law has added a second administrator to his lawsuit, accusing Associate Dean Theresa Beiner of retaliation over his litigation.
Robert Steinbuch, who is considered an expert on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, filed suit last week against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, complaining that law school Dean Michael Schwartz, 53, illegally refused to turn over some admissions information to him.
Steinbuch, a 10-year professor at the school, said he had gotten the data twice before, including once from Schwartz, after the attorney general's office determined in 2012 that the materials he sought could be made public.
Steinbuch said he is researching the connection between admission-test scores and the success of minority-group members at the William H. Bowen School of Law. The information he wants is student grade-point averages, ethnicity and entrance test scores.
Steinbuch said he wants to use those numbers in his research, which he said would show that Bowen uses lower standards to recruit minority-group students. That practice sets up those students to fail because they are not prepared for the rigors of law school, he contends.
Schwartz declined to release the requested data because he believes Steinbuch could use it to identify specific students, which the dean believes would be a violation of federal privacy laws.
Steinbuch's attorney, Matt Campbell, added a retaliation complaint to the lawsuit Monday against Beiner, the law school's associate dean of academic affairs.
After Steinbuch filed suit, Beiner began questioning his minority-group students about whether Steinbuch ever discussed his research with them, the amended petition says.
Beiner, who's been with the law school since 1994, denied the accusation Tuesday, but said she could say nothing further because of the litigation.
"I disagree with the allegation that I have retaliated against Professor Steinbuch in any context whatsoever," she wrote in response to an email seeking comment.
Steinbuch says Beiner is trying to make him look bad to his students.
"Defendant Beiner's actions have affected plaintiff's employment by sowing discord among the students, attempting to undermine plaintiff's credibility with certain segments of the student population and insinuating that something improper or untoward is behind plaintiff's research," the amended suit states.
Schwartz, the dean since July 2013, disputes Steinbuch's conclusions and also denied wrongdoing, but has declined to elaborate because the lawsuit is ongoing.
School lawyers have yet to file a response to the lawsuit, which has been assigned to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox.
Plaintiffs in Freedom of Information Act lawsuits have a right to a hearing within a week of filing suit, but Campbell has waived that deadline, stating that he likely will have to take depositions from the defendants.
Aside from the data he has requested, Steinbuch is asking the judge to order his legal fees be paid and to order damages over the whistleblower complaint.
Metro on 11/25/2015