Appeals court affirms release of UW-Oshkosh professor records

The 2nd District Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a Winnebago County judge’s release of personnel records requested by Alexander Nemec, a reporter with UW-Oshkosh’s student newspaper, The Advance-Titan.

Nemec filed an open records request in March 2017 for a complaint against Willis Hagen and documents related to a subsequent investigation. Hagen argued that personnel records are exempt from the open records law and sued to block disclosure, but a Winnebago County judge ordered them released. On Wednesday, the appellate court ruled that no such exemption exists following the conclusion of an investigation and that disclosure was of great public interest.