Redacted Miles files
I recall Miles as a seemingly genuine teacher who wanted to help students. However, during a meeting in which faculty and administrators dismissed my concerns about egregious sexual abuse—concerns later validated eight years later—they also implied that I had plagiarized my final project. Prior to that meeting, Miles had made multiple copies of the project; approximately fifteen copies were distributed to classmates without my consent. I later learned that FERPA requires a written release to disclose such educational records, meaning this distribution was unauthorized.
Currently, I lack sufficient evidence to prove Miles's wrongdoing or innocence, and I have consequently redacted all identifying details, including pronouns.
Years later, I submitted a public records request to the Indiana University Office of the Vice President and General Counsel, seeking a roster of English Department faculty for the 2001–2002 academic year. The General Counsel responded that no records were responsive to my request.
Doubting this, I contacted the Indiana Governor's Office. The ombudsman called the General Counsel and, within four hours, obtained part of my former teacher's name. Despite this, the General Counsel still did not acknowledge the existence of the specific roster I had formally requested.
I reached out to a retired professor who had been publicly editorializing about the current university administration. After I explained my difficulties, this professor used their sources to locate the historic roster I had originally asked for:
In response to a FOIL request for Miles' personnel records, the General Counsel provided me with records that appear to be improperly altered. The dates from the personnel files do not match the dates from the historic roster. In fact, they are inaccurate by three years on both the date of hire and the date of termination. Nobody has been able to provide a sufficient answer regarding the inaccuracies.