Report: Michigan State suing ESPN over request for sexual assault records

Michigan State is suing ESPN over a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by one of its reporters relating to sexual assault investigations, according to Matt Mencarini of The Lansing State Journal.

ESPN submitted the request to the school on Feb. 10, asking for all police reports containing allegations of sexual assault since Dec. 16, 2016, along with arrest records ranging from Feb. 6 to Feb. 9. It was filed one day after the university announced that three football players and a staff member were suspended as a result of a sexual assault investigation.

Michigan State is contending that the request has put the university in an "impossible position," because of the fact that the office of Ingham County prosecutor Carol Siemon has asked them to withhold the records.

Ingham County chief assistant prosecuting attorney Lisa McCormick wrote a letter to the Michigan State University Police Department asking the university to deny ESPN its request because the office hadn't made a decision.

Michigan State provided ESPN with some reports, while holding others back.

According to an affidavit signed by Michigan State spokesperson Jason Cody, ESPN reporter Paula Lavigne told Cody over the phone last month that ESPN was prepared to sue the university if the records weren't provided to them.

ESPN previously won an open records lawsuit against Michigan State in 2015.