July 2
Student animal-rights group Utah Primate Freedom was denied access to records when it asked the U for names and salaries of all faculty involved in animal testing.
The group decided to advocate their cause by staging protests in front of the homes of U researchers who participate in animal testing in late 2006 and early 2007.
The U denied the request and successfully defended the decision in an appeal before the Utah State Records Commission in early July.
In late July, the Salt Lake City Council passed an anti-protest ordinance placing new restrictions on residential protests, most notable of which was a rule requiring a 100-foot distance between protestors and a targeted residence.
The city council’s decision was met with an immediate lawsuit filed by the Utah Anti-Hunger Committee, a group that holds an annual action in front of the Governor’s Mansion. Their event would have been criminalized by the new law. The city created an exemption for the Governor’s Mansion in response to the suit.
Former U student Katie Patterson’s appeal of the record denial is pending in district court.
