The University of Connecticut and other colleges in the state recently received records requests from a webring called Metric Media. The requests ask for copies of every current course syllabus, plus relevant metadata, and enrollment information on “Chinese nationals.”
“Please share any documents or lists that show all current students who are Chinese nationals and which department of study they are in… [and] the amount of each scholarship they receive,” their request, attributed to one Jules Goonewardena, said in part.
The requests were made under the Freedom of Information Act laws, which give the public the right to request records from the government at both the federal and state levels. Since the UConn system (and most public colleges) is a state agency, it’s obligated to provide requested records with some limited exceptions.
“In some cases, [certain] documents can be disclosed following redaction of the information that is confidential,” UConn’s general public records guidelines state.
Similar FOIA requests for syllabi and choice demographics have been made by the group at hundreds of institutions nationwide.
Metric Media claims to operate over 1,300 online news sites across the U.S., each with the same mission to “shine a spotlight on the voices of our neighborhoods.” In Connecticut, they’re behind such names as the “Hartford Reporter,” “Naugatuck Times” and “Constitution State News.”
Their sites publish “auto-generated data stories, interviews with local residents, and in-depth reports,” according to the Metric Media webpage. They don’t provide any information about a local news operation, such as a local newsroom or a listing of reporters. Goonewardena’s name appears on FOIA requests for a variety of topics on behalf of Metric, many of which ask schools for information about “Chinese nationals.” On LinkedIn, he’s listed as a “data manager” for Local Labs LLC, a shell company of Metric Media.
In the past, the company’s sites and subsidiaries have been known to falsify bylines and reporting. Some of their fake content was syndicated as “advertorial” content by larger publishers, according to reporting from Nieman Lab.
“We don’t feel compelled to put their names on the website, because when our reporters put their names on a website, people attack them… Crazy left-wing lunatics try to attack them and call their parents and harass them,” said Metric owner and co-founder Brian Timpone, in an interview with the Murray State News of Murray State University in Kentucky, who received identical requests.
Timpone is reportedly a former television political reporter from Illinois.
The group announced the requests to UConn and Central Connecticut State University with boilerplate posts specifying that they were made on behalf of the “Coalition Opposing Governmental Secrecy,” one of many companies founded and operated by Timpone. The announcement describes the coalition as a nonprofit organization “dedicated to investigating state and federal governmental agencies.”
“We want to know what colleges are teaching these days to our young people,” explained Timpone. “We want to know if [state-funded colleges] are actually teaching, or if they’re trying to propagandize you with nonsense.”
Timpone said that he’s concerned that topics such as “gay” and “trans history” were being taught at public colleges, calling them “absurd.” Metric Media’s output is directly linked to right-wing conservative politics, according to the Columbia Journalism Review, NPR and The New York Times.
When asked, Timpone said that his concern at colleges is Chinese students “spying” for the Chinese government, the Murray State interview revealed.
“Chinese students are all obliged to be loyal to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], so there’s that,” Timpone said. “We are interested in all foreign students, but Chinese ones here to spy on the U.S. are of particular interest.”
Their report said Murray State University complied with the request, but other school’s state laws have blocked it.
The UConn public records office has not yet processed Metric Media’s requests but has received them. The Connecticut state FOIA laws prohibit the release of “personal information including names and addresses of students enrolled in any school,” so it is unlikely Metric’s specific request as worded will be honored.
For more information about public records and the FOIA at UConn, visit publicrecords.uconn.edu.