{"id":118506,"date":"2021-02-05T04:59:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T09:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=118506"},"modified":"2021-02-05T05:12:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T10:12:39","slug":"university-of-michigan-demands-1200-for-china-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-michigan-demands-1200-for-china-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Michigan Demands $1,200 for China Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Funiversity-of-michigan-demands-1200-for-china-documents%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=118506&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/michigan.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The University of Michigan refused to turn over public documents related to its $25 million research partnership with China unless it receives more than $1,200 in fees, an &#8220;extreme&#8221; request that experts said prevents transparency.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI) offers robotics and technology researchers&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.umich.edu\/u-m-strengthens-collaborations-with-china\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">millions<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in funding as well as priority access to the Chinese market. The<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Washington Free Beacon<\/span><\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">filed a Freedom of Information Act request for specific documents associated with the lucrative program in January. The taxpayer-funded university, however, demanded $1,204 in fees before releasing the documents.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in National Security<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/university-of-michigan-demands-1200-for-china-documents\/\"><strong>University of Michigan Demands $1,200 for China Documents<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/gop-legislative-push-seeks-to-stop-biden-admin-from-unraveling-iran-sanctions\/\"><strong>GOP Legislative Push Seeks to Stop Biden Admin from Unraveling Iran Sanctions<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/canadian-olympic-committee-warns-athletes-not-to-criticize-china\/\"><strong>Canadian Olympic Committee Warns Athletes Not to Criticize China<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Modest fees are common in FOIA offices and generally cover expenses related to information gathering and photocopying. But some transparency experts were alarmed by the steep demand, saying that high fee costs can inhibit the public&#8217;s right to records.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Delie, who has filed multiple FOIA lawsuits against the University of Michigan, said that he has heard of FOIA cases that charged more than $30,000 in fees. He said that the high fees\u2014coupled with long wait times that exceed the statutory deadline\u2014are a serious obstacle to government transparency and discourage Michiganders from acquiring public documents that they have the right to see.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;When these fees are this high, it creates a very chilling effect on public records because your average citizen is unable to gain access to what should be publicly available information,&#8221; Delie said. &#8220;Even institutional entities like the media have difficulty getting prompt responses or justifying the expense for the information being sought.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free Beacon<\/span><\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">requested two specific documents\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/umbici.engin.umich.edu\/proposal_management\/proposal_submission_approval\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">known<\/a> within the program as &#8220;exploratory project proposal&#8221; and &#8220;full proposal&#8221;\u2014that researchers complete to request BICI funding,<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/umbici.engin.umich.edu\/proposal_management\/background\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">according<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to the program&#8217;s website. The documents would illuminate key details about the BICI-backed research projects, including whether patent rights will be granted to U.S.- or China-based entities. BICI says it has no ties to the Chinese government but is closely tied to multiple Chinese state-backed universities and enjoys the backing of Chinese Communist Party officials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, said state institutions sometimes resort to expensive FOIA fees to conceal unflattering information or to fill their coffers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Unfortunately, charging fees for access to government information has become a way to scare off requesters and a way to conceal records\u2014some of which might point to internal or embarrassing problems,&#8221; Amey said. &#8220;The public has a right to know how our government works and how it is spending taxpayer money, and the government has a burden to respond to such requests, which should not be a revenue-generating mandate.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) pushed for greater FOIA transparency at the beginning of her term, but a<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Detroit Free Press<\/span><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/local\/michigan\/2020\/02\/26\/michigan-foia-slow-costly-whitmer-transparency\/4786653002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">report<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">found that the Great Lake state continues to struggle with high fees and long wait times. Delie, who has filed two separate FOIA lawsuits against the University of Michigan, echoed the<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free Press<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2018s findings, saying that the situation has gotten worse in the last year. &#8220;What I&#8217;ve been seeing over the last year is an uptick in excessive cost estimates and excessive time delays in responses,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Michigan state senator Ed McBroom (R.) said that FOIA reform is necessary to ensure that prohibitively high FOIA costs do not become an obstacle to government transparency. The reform, however, is a balancing act because lower FOIA costs could also lead to an increase in frivolous document requests.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s this tension because whoever is requesting the documents is taking taxpayer resources in order to get them. However, if the price is too high, then it becomes a huge vulnerability for corruption,&#8221; McBroom said. &#8220;And so there is public interest in subsidizing these things to some extent.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eric Doster, a Michigan-based FOIA lawyer, called the university&#8217;s price tag &#8220;extreme&#8221; and points to a weakness in American transparency requirements. He&nbsp;said that the FOIA process, even if it is working as intended, has its limits. The state should be required to post documents online to achieve full transparency rather&nbsp;than wait for a formal request for a public good.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;At some point, we need to get away from FOIA laws,&#8221; Doster said. &#8220;And frankly we should put these things online, including the research proposals you&#8217;re asking for.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The University of Michigan did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Michigan refused to turn over public documents related to its $25 million research partnership with China unless it receives more than $1,200 in fees, an &#8220;extreme&#8221; request &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892693,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4501,4201,5407,4601,4861],"class_list":["post-118506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-china","tag-demands","tag-documents","tag-michigan","tag-university"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}