"Resolution Opening Up U. Board Meetings Could See Vote Next Week
A resolution that would change the Constitution to require the state's university governing bodies to be subject to the Open Meetings Act could be brought up for a vote in the House Oversight and Ethics Committee next week, its chair said Thursday.
The resolution (HJR O) would strip the word "formal" from the section of the Constitution governing university board meetings, and would require sessions of governing bodies of higher education institutions to be open as prescribed in the Open Meetings Act.
Rep. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) said he hopes to report the resolution when the committee meets next week. The committee did adopt a substitute offered by Mr. McBroom that strips language from the resolution pertaining to the Freedom of Information Act.
He said he felt the wording was redundant as there is already a section in the Constitution regarding FOIA.
Because of a Supreme Court case in 1999, university governing boards are able to hold deliberations in private and only "formal" meetings in public.
Mr. McBroom said he has been meeting with universities to find out if there are "specific issues" the OMA would create for the boards.
"As I see it right now, the Open Meetings Act would be adequate. It already provides for closed sessions, and for open sessions depending on specific information," he said.
Mr. McBroom said to him the resolution is common sense. He said it fixes a lack of clarity in the Constitution that led to the 1999 decision.
"The courts have determined again and again university boards are governing boards," he said. "I think we simply need to adopt this to clarify what, in my mind, is already in the Constitution," he said. "I don't think that is a heavy lift. ... We'll see. I am always a little bit of an optimist on the desire of open and transparent government."
The committee heard more testimony on Thursday from people mostly bashing the University of Michigan.
Douglas Smith, a former professor at the U-M, told committee members the university secretly hired an attorney after a student doctor was found with child pornography so that it could cite attorney-client privilege when asked about the incident and an investigation of the university that began afterward.
Patrick Clawson, a private investigator from Flint, said he once served U-M Regent Denise Ilitch with a subpoena and she screamed at him and acted like she was above the law.
While most who testified in committee Thursday were supportive of the bill, the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan was opposed." (Gongwer News Service).