In the wake of a legal fight that started early last year over records by Notre Dame Security Police, state Rep. B. Patrick Bauer took a strong stand, declaring that records by police departments at private colleges and universities in Indiana should be subject to public disclosure.
“We need to either abolish these private police forces or do what’s right,” Bauer told The Tribune in April. “Notre Dame shouldn’t be hiding behind this. It’s worse than silly … it’s just wrong.”
Earlier this month, Bauer, D-South Bend, indeed followed up and co-sponsored a bill on the topic for this session of the General Assembly. But critics have argued it falls well short of making private university police forces more transparent. The bill, in fact, is limited to making public some information related to arrests or incarcerations for criminal offenses.
The bill was drafted with the help of Independent Colleges of Indiana. Notre Dame, which is embroiled in a legal fight with sports giant ESPN over its police records, is a member of the organization. And Bauer has served on the group’s board of directors for at least five years.
Bauer on Wednesday said there is no conflict of interest. His board seat is unpaid, Bauer said, and the proposed legislation would not benefit him. He insisted the bill is intended to increase the amount of information available to the public regarding police investigations on private campuses.
Bauer, a Notre Dame graduate, said he has long served on the Independent Colleges of Indiana board in part because he attended an independent private university.
He said that as he started drafting legislation, Independent Colleges “offered to work with me on it, and we came up with this bill.”
The group “helped me write parts of the bill because they have the expertise,” he added.
Last week, Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown said by email that the university “offered its support, perspective and assistance to the leaders of the Independent Colleges of Indiana as they worked with Rep. Bauer.”
Notre Dame has a police force with arrest powers but historically has not made records available to the public, as municipal forces do. Bauer’s strong comments in the spring came as ESPN and Notre Dame were entangled in a legal fight. ESPN sued the university after being denied access to police records and claimed Notre Dame is violating Indiana’s public records law. Notre Dame’s lawyers argued the private university is not subject to the state’s public records requirements. A judge ruled against ESPN, but it has appealed the case to the Indiana Court of Appeals.
The bill, House Bill 1022, passed the House Government and Regulatory Reform committee this week.