Opinion from James Gill at NOLA.com:
State agencies have gotten into the habit of refusing public records requests lately, but the general reaction is a shrug because this is not a matter of life and death. This time it is. The consequences of the massive cuts at LSU hospitals will be generally dire and almost certainly fatal in some cases. Taxpayers could be forgiven a little curiosity about how such momentous decisions were made.
They'll just have to wonder, because LSU will reveal nothing, citing a "deliberative process" exemption in the public records law pushed through by Gov. Bobby Jindal in 2009. That law states that it applies only to the governor's office, but it has somehow metastasized to the point where any administration hireling assumes a right to secrecy.