State Justice Department officials say the University of Delaware Board of Trustees violated open meetings laws after it used a vague description of a controversial measure on its agenda.
In May, UD’s Board of Trustees voted through changes to the university’s bylaws giving administrators final say over any changes to the faculty handbook.
That handbook sets rules for how professors are promoted, how they’re evaluated and regulations surrounding research, among many others.
During its spring meeting, trustees listed the changes as “Additional Resolutions for Board Approval” on its agenda, which deputy attorney general Michelle Whalen says broke the law.
Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] law only requires a general description on agendas, but such a move doesn’t “[satisfy] neither the spirit nor the letter of [FOIA] to state the subject in such broad generalities as to fail to draw the public’s attention to the fact that that specific important subject will be treated.”
“There can be no doubt that revisions to a public body’s bylaws qualify as ‘a major issue,’” Whalen wrote.
In its response to the justice department, UD said faculty members knew when trustees were going to consider the changes and that "...this is not a case in which interested parties were unaware of what a ‘public body’ planned to consider at a ‘meeting[.]’”
Trustees approved the changes again Tuesday with a more specific agenda, but didn't take public comment during the meeting, which it's not required to do.
But state Rep. Paul Baumbach (D-Newark) says this case shows the current carve outs in public meetings laws for UD aren’t working.
“Either they should not be a public body because it really does no help to have a meeting where they release 200 pages on the morning of the meeting where the public can’t say a word in the meeting – why bother in the first place – or have it really require that they act like the other public bodies in the state,” he said.
The faculty senate and the provost’s office now must agree on any changes to the faculty handbook, with the president breaking up any disputes. Baumbach calls that a “gigantic change.”
“What is the purpose of Faculty Senate [with these changes]? It’s purely advisory. It doesn’t have any real power, so it’s sort of like a congressman from Puerto Rico. Yeah, they can be there, they can be present, but it doesn’t really matter much what they say.”
Bills over the past four years trying to fully include University of Delaware and Delaware State University in the Freedom of Information Act have failed – largely with fierce opposition from the schools.
Baumbach hopes similar proposals will return in the new General Assembly next year.
In a statement, UD general counsel Laure Ergin said they're disappointed in the ruling, but that they're taking steps toward greater transparency. "Those changes include posting additional Board materials online, making the Board's annual retreat open to the public and enhancing our website."
