Traci Bauer wants to know why her fellow students get arrested.

So the Southwest Missouri State University student and editor of the school’s newspaper, The Standard, is suing 12 university officials to get access to crime file reports.

“This had been going on long before we filed the lawsuit,” Bauer said.

In the spring of 1988, Bauer asked SMSU for consistency in allowing the paper to receive and report on crime concerning the university and its students. In January, 1989, Bauer filed a lawsuit to obtain campus crime reports.

Bauer said the university claims the records are protected by the Buckley Amendment, which protects students’ educational records. Also, the school does not regard its officers as police, but calls them “security force.”

She said the paper sent Freedom of Information Act requests to officials involved and was still denied access to the records. FOIA requests may be used to obtain any information that is a matter of public record.

Paul Kincaid, director of university relations for SWMSU, said “there are no signs of (the case) being resolved.”

Kincaid said the lawsuit would make all crime information available to the newspaper. Currently, a reporter is given crime information once a week but all “personal identifiable information is eliminated.”

While Kincaid said The Standard has the right to file a lawsuit, he said the case is not legitimate, adding the Buckley Amendment provides due process for students.

Two attorneys are working without pay in the Bauer v. Kincaid case because “they felt it is a strong case and they believe in the paper’s fight,” Bauer said.

The Society of Professional Journalists found one of the attorneys, who is from Jefferson City, Mo., and the other is a retired judge from Springfield, Mo.

“I really do expect to win the case,” she said. She said if she does not win because of a favorable decision from the judge she could win because the university might back down.

“The university was surprised when we filed suit,” Bauer said. She said she had advised the university the paper knew its rights concerning crime reports and said the paper had threatened to sue the university in the past.

“Nothing was going to pursuade them … it was the only way we could,” Bauer said, who said she will take the case as far as the Supreme Court if necessary.