The Reporter Made A Records Request To MDC—Three Months Later, Nothing Has Happened

Three months after The Reporter requested the personnel file of former Miami Dade College Foundation Chief Executive Officer Nelson Hincapie, who left the College last fall, the school’s Legal Affairs team has still not provided the information or rejected the request.

Yazid Guelida, the paper’s editor-in-chief, made the records request on Nov. 10 via email to the College’s general counsel Javier Ley-Soto. He did not respond to The Reporter’s request for a comment for this story.

Mike Hiestand, who serves as senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center, said the MDC Foundation is a direct-support organization—a non-profit corporation that invests, holds and administers property for a Florida College System institution and makes expenditures for the benefit of the school.

That would make it exempt from public records requests, except for its financial audit report. 

But Hiestand said the exemption doesn’t absolve the College from responding.

In an email on Feb. 5, The Reporter asked Ley-Soto if the reason he has not provided the files is because the foundation is a direct-support organization. He did not answer.

According to Florida Statute 119.07 (1)(e), “if the person who has custody of a public record contends that all or part of the record is exempt from inspection and copying, he or she shall state the basis of the exemption that he or she contends is applicable to the record, including the statutory citation to an exemption created or afforded by statute.”

“You are definitely in constructive denial territory right now,” Hiestand said. “The school is clearly just not playing by the rules anymore.”

Hiestand said: “All constructive denial means is they’ve done everything but tell you no, and that’s certainly what they’ve done here.”

Guelida’s initial request on Nov. 10 asked for Hincapie’s yearly performance reviews, letters of commendation, possible disciplinary documents, resignation or termination paperwork, and hiring information such as his job application and offer letter, among other things.

Ten days later, The Reporter received an email from Legal Affairs acknowledging they received the request. 

Guelida followed up via email on Dec. 12, Dec. 16, Jan. 5 and Jan. 26, inquiring if there was a status update and whether a completion date was available. He did not receive a response. 

In addition, Guelida said he visited the Legal Affairs district office at Wolfson Campus at least a dozen times between December of last year and this January. 

According to Guelida, Ley-Soto was either not in the office or unavailable to speak at those times, except during an encounter in mid-December, prior to the College’s winter break, where Ley-Soto said he would fulfill the request by the end of the week and include a fee for redactions. That never happened.

When The Reporter contacted the MDC Foundation’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Julie Vives on Feb. 5, she said she assumed the position in early October after Hincapie resigned.

“He left on a positive note,” Vives said. “He had a great impact on the foundation.” 

In a phone interview with The Reporter that same day, Hincapie confirmed he resigned and that he is in the process of starting his own consulting firm.

“I love the College and I have a great relationship with my students,” Hincapie said. “It was time to go.”

When The Reporter asked Hincapie via text message for a copy of his resignation letter, he said he didn’t have a copy.

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