Lex Anteinternet: I've found it hard to get too worked up about the ...

firing of Laurie Nichols as the President of the University of Wyoming in a post that started off stating:

Lex Anteinternet: I've found it hard to get too worked up about the ...: and I'm not sure why. I probably ought to be concerned, as something is going on and I'm completely clueless about it. As the s...

I'm still not all that worked up about it for some reason, even though in my earlier posted I noted:

Well, at any rate, the Trustees really do owe the state, and Nichols, an explanation.  There's some reason for their decision, even if its trivial, and as the state only has one four year university, they should let us know what it is.

Now something really interesting has happened.

The press has gone after a confidential file regarding Nichol's release. And opposing the release of that information is. . . Nichols.

Nichols states she has no idea what is in the information, but she doesn't want it released as she doesn't want, her attorney claims, any chance that it gets bounced around in the press and her name in tarnished.  Her attorney stated in a brief before the court on that, according to the Tribune;

“Nichols doesn’t even know what the records say or why they were gathered. . .  adding that Nichols “assumed the worst” in terms of what records were at stake. “Thus, any release would subject her to a potential trial and lynching.”

She's quite right.

Not so says the lawyer who is representing the press.  He noted:

“I’m assuming she’s saying a media trial and lynching. . .  That takes a dim view of the public in my mind. ... Members of the public could in fact be very sympathetic to her and supportive of her if they think that these are bogus reasons [for her demotion] and that the board didn’t act as they should.”

Oh leave the poor woman alone.  If she doesn't want the reasons made public, it was her job.  Respect her wishes and move on.

This doesn't have anything, of course, to do with the law.  But then maybe in this era of hyper rumorization, the law ought to be a bit modified.  If there is a right to privacy, maybe even for public figures, it trumps the public's right to know in some instances.