Court: UW-Milwaukee properly redacted student names

MADISON — A state appeals court says University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials legally redacted student names from more than 2,000 pages of records.

Former UWM student Taylor Scott in 2013 requested communications by and to Vice Chancellor Michael Laliberte and student Pahoua Xiong containing Scott's name and parts of his email address. A court ordered UWM to produce the records and the university provided Scott more than 2,000 pages with student names redacted.

A Milwaukee County judge refused Scott's request to order the school to release the names. The 1st District Court of Appeals upheld that decision Tuesday, ruling the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits releasing the names.

Court documents don't say why Scott was seeking the records. His attorney, Gary Grass, didn't immediately return a message.