McGill, students settle dispute over access to information requests

McGill University and a group of students have settled out of court their dispute over access to information requests, reports the Montreal Gazette. McGill, in early 2013, asked the province if it could reject future access to information requests from students who repeatedly demand information, saying the students who did so were disrupting university operations and abusing the system. A group of McGill students then challenged the request. This recent settlement means the university cannot stop future access requests from the students, while the students will have to drop or redraft some of their pending requests for information. McGill Secretary General Stephen Strople says the university is happy with the agreement because it means the student requests will be streamlined and that the university will be given a reasonable amount of time to produce the information. One of the students involved in the dispute, Kevin Paul, said, “We are satisfied McGill backed down on its motion to a great extent, but we’ll be happy when we see we have the documents in hand.” Montreal Gazette