By Anne Weismann
Recall that in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from CREW and then only after CREW filed a lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Education produced approximately 1900 pages of emails. These emails documented efforts by Wall Street investors to influence the outcome of Education’s regulation of the for-profit education industry, and the close ties between top Education officials and many in the non-profit education world. Education claimed to had produced all its records. CREW disagreed, pointing out in a legal brief the myriad ways in which Education’s search clearly was deficient.
As Education now admits, CREW was right. Today, Education admitted to the court there are other documents. In fact, a new search uncovered approximately 10,000 new emails. Ten thousand – five times more than the agency’s initial (and far from complete) production. We can only wonder what this new stash of emails will reveal, but we will know soon enough. Education promises CREW will have them all in hand by April 22. Stay tuned.