VIce Chancellor for Student Affairs Tom Stafford said some University officials have opposed recording the public Fee Review Committee meetings that start next week.
This comes despite efforts from several Student Government members to record the committee’s meetings and embed the video into the online ballot for the fee referendum.
The University is violating freedom of information laws and is preventing students from easily accessing information on fee referendums.
Administrators must work with SG leaders to find a way to make video-recordings of the meetings available to students for any relevant votes.
Article 33, section 143-318.10 of the North Carolina General Statutes, which addresses open meeting laws, reads as follows:
“Every public body shall keep full and accurate minutes of all official meetings, including any closed sessions held pursuant to G.S. 143-318.11. Such minutes may be in written form or, at the option of the public body, may be in the form of sound or video and sound recordings.”
Further, the Fee Review Committee meetings are public, open meetings and do not fall under the exceptions to the open meetings law, which include business contracts, attorney-client privilege, personnel matters, criminal investigations, terrorism or honorary degree discussions. The remaining exception is hardly relevant – these fees are not confidential information, as students find out what the cost is when they receive their bills.
Student Senate President Greg Doucette said some committee members are concerned that posting the videos online may allow third parties like the John Locke Foundation edit the videos and take their statements out of context. Doucette said administrators may just be overreacting to using YouTube code to create videos that are easily embedded into Web sites.
Stafford confirmed that the administrators on the committee are concerned about third-party access to any online recordings of the meetings. Fees are the University’s business, and there is no reason to post the business online, Stafford said.
It’s time for the University to support freedom of information and listen to student opinions, particularly with regard to fees. The committee members are not psychic – none of them. Not even the student members can determine what students think should be funded.
Administrators need to work with students and student leaders to make sure anyone who wants access to these meetings can have access to them, even if they cannot be physically present at the meetings.
