A divided Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that private colleges' police departments are subject to the state's open records law.
The 4-3 decision Thursday involving a suburban Columbus college's police department said the agency is a public office because its personnel are state-certified police officers.
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by a student journalist against Otterbein University asking for arrest records and other information.
Otterbein argued it is exempt from public-records laws as a private institution and that federal law requires it to protect certain information about students from being released.
Dissenting justices said the department is not a public agency because it was created by the private university, not state law.