Put UPEI under freedom of information rules, students say

The student union at the University of Prince Edward Island wants government to make the school subject to the province's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The university is currently exempt, as are Holland College and Collège Acadie, the province's French-language post-secondary institution.

UPEI Student Union president Lucas MacArthur told CBC News Friday with a large public grant going to the university each year there should be a chance for the public to ask questions.

"We still don't have that external recourse and that external place where someone can go," he said.

"No one from the public can access information from the university. You need to be part of the university community. So I don't think that that really is a true process in place."

In the past Justice Minister Janice Sherry has told CBC News that UPEI has its own freedom of information officer so it does not need to be included under the provincial act. MacArthur said requests are frequently turned down by the school, and the current system does not work.

MacArthur said the student union is setting up a meeting with provincial officials to formally ask for the change.