HELENA, Mont. — A judge has ordered the conditional release of records about a University of Montana rape case to author Jon Krakauer after a four-year dispute that pitted student privacy against the public’s right to know the decisions their government agencies make.
But the legal wrangling likely isn’t over yet, and the records’ release to the public will be delayed beyond the judge’s May 23 deadline if Montana Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian appeals to the state Supreme Court.
The author of Into the Air and Into the Wild said Wednesday that he expects the commissioner’s office to appeal, but added that the years-long delay in releasing the records does not diminish their importance.
“We still need to be told the truth about how Montana’s state-funded universities handle rape accusations,” Krakauer told The Associated Press in an email.
Krakauer requested the records four years ago when he was writing the 2015 book Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town.
Krakauer sought to learn whether and why Christian overturned a campus decision to expel University of Montana quarterback Jordan Johnson for violating the school’s code of conduct over a 2012 rape allegation by a female student.
Johnson was the starting quarterback for the Grizzlies when the accusation was made. He was acquitted of the rape charge in state court and received $245,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit he filed claiming that the university mishandled its investigation of the rape allegation.
