University officials said releasing the names would jeopardize the safety of people who work in the animal labs. The Utah State Records Committee sided with the university on Thursday, but suggested that the school should consider asking the Legislature to change state law if it wants the names kept private.

Katie Patterson sought the names, titles and salaries of employees and researchers at the Animal Resource Center at the university in a November request under the Government Records Access and Management Act. The school said it would provide salaries and titles but would not disclose names because of safety concerns.

Several members of the committee said that the information is fundamentally public, but they denied Patterson's appeal.

Patterson has participated in protests and is a member of Utah Primate Freedom, which opposes the use of animals in research.

The organization's founder, Jeremy Beckham, represented Patterson during Thursday's hearing.

Beckham said the group's protests at the homes of researchers in the Salt Lake City area have been legal and never resulted in physical confrontations or unlawful acts.

''The basic principals of democracy outweigh the theoretical security issues,'' Beckham told the committee.

Beckham said his group has no connection with what he called ''shadowy, underground'' groups such as the Animal Liberation Front.

People claiming to be activists for the Animal Liberation Front have taken responsibility for two cases of vandalism at the homes of a University of Utah researcher in the past six months.

Patterson and Utah Primate Freedom are not seeking home addresses and telephone numbers, Beckham said.

He said the names would primarily be used to file other public records requests where the names of researchers would be useful in uncovering evidence of abuse or inadequate care in the school's animal labs.

Beckham questioned how private the names of researchers are when many of them are identified on Web pages linked to the university and sometimes the names are published in news releases.

Officials for the school said they are within their rights to withhold the researchers' names in an effort to protect their employees.

''Providing the names of research employees makes them the targets of intimidation and harassment,'' said Phyllis Vetter, associate general council for the university. ''We believe the release of these materials will result in an unwarranted invasion of privacy.''

The school showed a clip of a recent protest by Utah Primate Freedom outside an apartment complex where one of the school's researchers lives.

Patterson, the petitioner, acknowledged being at that protest, where a man with a bullhorn shouts ''We're never going away, and we always win.''

The panel approved a motion that said although such records are generally public, in this instance the safety and privacy concerns outweighed that.

Patterson has 30 days to appeal the committee's decision in district court.

''Our goal has been to protect the employees and we've achieved that goal,'' Vetter said after the hearing.

The school will also take into consideration the committee's recommendation to take the matter before the Legislature, said Ray Gesteland, vice president of research for the university.

Patterson said she wasn't done fighting for the records.

''I'm optimistic that we will win when we appeal,'' she said.

Beckham, also a student at the school, said he shares Patterson's optimism.

He said the availability of public records shouldn't depend on who is requesting them.

''It was so clear the identity of the requester was relevant today,'' he said.

Providing the names of research employees makes them the targets of intimidation and harassment. We believe the release of these materials will result in an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

- PHYLLIS VETTER, associate general council for the University of Utah