I agree with The Scout’s editorial of Friday, Sept. 23, that there is no good reason for The Scout to receive only “sanitized” and “filtered” police reports of police activities on or near Bradley’s campus.
I understand that the University administration wants to protect the names of minors and of alleged victims. I do not, however, recall seeing any names in that portion of the paper in the past. Moreover, I am unaware of any problems that the former practice of access to photocopies of original police reports has caused.
Access to complete information should not be withdrawn without an explanation to the campus community as to why this is thought to be necessary. Although a private university is not required to be transparent, more transparency is always better absent solid reasons to the contrary.
As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
-Emily R. Gill
Caterpillar Professor of Political Science