IU trustees violated open door law, says state public access chief

Indiana’s Public Access Counselor agreed with WFIU/WTIU News that Indiana University’s Board of Trustees violated the state’s Open Door Law during its private meeting May 14, according to a strongly worded advisory opinion released Thursday.

In the required citation of law justifying the closed meeting, the trustees said they were going to discuss litigation.

But a statement from the board a day later showed that the trustees talked about more than that — the performance of IU President Pamela Whitten and an independent review of the campus climate. Whitten had come under fierce criticism for, among other issues, asking the state police to break up a pro-Palestine encampment and protest in Dunn Meadow.

WFIU/WTIU reporter Ethan Sandweiss filed a formal complaint with Public Access Counselor Luke Britt, saying the board failed to state it was going to discuss personnel during the private “executive session.”

Britt agreed.

WFIU/WTIU’s complaint also said that by initiating the campus climate assessment, the Board took “final action” during a private session, which is against the law.

Britt criticized the trustees for their secrecy.

His opinion said the board’s discussion “appears to edge towards final action. There was no reported vote to make this happen, but the outwards assumption is there was a consensus behind a choice like this.

“This office is in no position to verify what truly happened in that meeting but is sympathetic to the concerns of the community about transparency. The Board should be mindful that action arising out of an executive session, even if it is not something that necessitates a vote, can still give the perception of opacity.”

IU officials did not respond to a request for comment.

“The statement released after the executive session indicates that the Board veered mightily from its noticed purpose,” Britt wrote. “The statement did not cite any litigation at all, but rather focused almost solely on the performance of the administration in a time of unrest.

“It is true that an executive session may be held to discuss such matters, but given the gravity of the moment, it is difficult to grasp that IU would not mind the particulars of compliance.

“If there was any time to be precise, this was it.”