It was a mystery.
Dan Grossenbach served as an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona’s School of Government & Public Policy for three years and received overwhelmingly positive course evaluations from his students. But then, his contract wasn’t renewed, and the reason for his dismissal left more questions than answers. Grossenbach wanted to get to the bottom of it.
The explanation given—that the university had found a way to hire full-time faculty members (as opposed to adjuncts) and that it was important for career-track professors to teach core courses—didn’t appear to align with reality. There was no replacement faculty member for the course he taught, and recent hiring practices included bringing on many new adjunct instructors.
Grossenbach suspected that he had been canned for his conservative beliefs, but when he filed public records requests to find out for sure, university officials spent months stonewalling him.
More than six months later, Grossenbach is finally getting the answers he deserves after the Goldwater Institute’s American Freedom Network (AFN) of pro bono attorneys took the case and demanded the school turn over the public records it was hiding. But it should not take months of delays and the intervention of an attorney to access information that is rightfully due to citizens. After, all, Grossenbach only wanted answers to a few simple questions: What were the circumstances surrounding the decision not to renew his contract? Why was the decision made, and was he being targeted for his beliefs?
Determined to uncover the truth, Grossenbach first submitted a public records request on November 30, 2023, for email communications between university officials containing his last name. He later narrowed his request on December 7 to include emails from just three U of A employees. However, despite Arizona law requiring the university to “promptly” respond, the university delayed this simple request for over six months. Each time he asked for an update during that time, he was met with the statement, “we continue to process this request,” and the university avoided giving him an estimated production date.
Citizens deserve better than months of stonewalling before they can access the information they are entitled to. Goldwater was proud to assist Mr. Grossenbach pro bono, but for most Americans, their only recourse is to pay a hefty fee to hire an attorney. In this case, an AFN attorney sent the university a letter reminding officials of their obligation to produce the records, and within two weeks, they complied, finally sending the emails to Grossenbach after their six-month delay. Indeed, the emails reveal that Grossenbach received significant flak over his conservative beliefs, and that university officials had an “informal chat” about his future employment right before informing him his contract would not be renewed.
This matter highlights the importance of transparency and the role of public records laws in holding institutions accountable. Goldwater will continue to vindicate people’s access to public records—after all, all Americans have a right to know what their government is up to.
If you are interested in putting your legal skills and experience to practice in defense of liberty and would like to work on cases like this one as part of the Goldwater’s Institute’s American Freedom Network, please visit this page or contact Kamron Kompani at kkompani@goldwaterinstitute.org.
