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Here's a potential disadvantage of outsourcing a university's email system:

You might not be able to find out quickly whether someone has been deleting tens of thousands of emails to escape open-records laws.

That's apparently the problem over at North Dakota State University. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is trying to find out whether the university illegally deleted more than 45,000 emails from the account of President Dean Bresciani, 

(IT personnel detected the possible deletions during a hunt by a North Dakota lawmaker for state emails that mentioned recently ousted University System Chancellor Hamid Shirvani.)

An emailed press statement by the university states:

(The statement says, however, "President Bresciani did not delete 45,000 emails, and he did not ask anyone to do so. ")

 host Tom Weber today it's unclear whether the emails are completely gone, or whether IT folks will be able to resurrect them. But Potter said he's been told they still may be accessible.

, and I'll post the audio of his interview with Weber when it's ready.

FYI, here's the note Weber received today from the university:

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

Here’s a potential disadvantage of outsourcing a university’s email system: You might not be able to find out quickly whether someone has been deleting tens of thousands of emails to escape open-records laws. That’s apparently the problem over at North Dakota State University. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is trying to find out whether the university…

How technology has affected North Dakota’s higher-ed investigation

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