Trustees of Western Illinois University in Macomb repeatedly violated the state Open Meetings Act, according to a recording of a closed meeting obtained by TriStates Public Radio.
TSPR's work pulls back the curtain on a phenomenon that is probably widespread but is difficult to expose: public agencies violating laws that limit what can be discussed in closed meetings. Only a few states require a verbatim record of such meetings, as Illinois does.
Acting on a complaint from a WIU faculty representative, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's staff listened to the recording of the closed meeting, and she ordered it released.
Cathy Early, then the board chair, said in the meeting that the open meeting to come would be scripted. That's illegal, TSPR says: Illinois law says the public's business must be discussed in public. "In the recording, it sounds as though this is business as usual for closed-door sessions, as board members and administrators talk about issues that are supposed to be discussed in public," Rich Egger reports, adding that the board seemed to make plans to violate the law again in future sessions.
The closed meeting's stated purpose was to discuss personnel, collective bargaining, litigation and real estate, all of which are valid topics under the law. The board went into open session immediately afterward and authorized more than two dozen layoffs, then went back into closed session to discuss specific employees' performance. "But in this 51-minute recording, the board talks again and again about groups of workers, the school’s budget, programs, and other matters that are supposed to be discussed in public," Egger reports.
TSPR says it listened to the recording in an effort to learn why WIU completely cut funding to the university radio station, part of TSPR. "They make it sound like a done deal, though TSPR was not officially notified of the funding cut until mid-August," Rich Egger reports. And though TSPR requested documentation about the decision in a Freedom of Information Act request, the university still hasn't provided much, TSPR says.
"We were sent hundreds of emails that shed a bit of light on the issue but there are no budget spreadsheets, no meeting minutes, no metrics, or any other data demonstrating who made the decision, when it was made, or why TSPR was cut instead of other university offerings," Egger reports. "TSPR was even told that the public radio station was not mentioned in any closed session meeting of the BoT – a conclusion you might come to if you simply looked at the paragraph-long meeting minutes from the June 28 closed session. But in reality, TSPR was brought up multiple times in that morning’s closed meeting."
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Acting on a complaint from a WIU faculty representative, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's staff listened to the recording of the closed meeting, and she ordered it released.
Cathy Early, then the board chair, said in the meeting that the open meeting to come would be scripted. That's illegal, TSPR says: Illinois law says the public's business must be discussed in public. "In the recording, it sounds as though this is business as usual for closed-door sessions, as board members and administrators talk about issues that are supposed to be discussed in public," Rich Egger reports, adding that the board seemed to make plans to violate the law again in future sessions.
TSPR says it listened to the recording in an effort to learn why WIU completely cut funding to the university radio station, part of TSPR. "They make it sound like a done deal, though TSPR was not officially notified of the funding cut until mid-August," Rich Egger reports. And though TSPR requested documentation about the decision in a Freedom of Information Act request, the university still hasn't provided much, TSPR says.
"We were sent hundreds of emails that shed a bit of light on the issue but there are no budget spreadsheets, no meeting minutes, no metrics, or any other data demonstrating who made the decision, when it was made, or why TSPR was cut instead of other university offerings," Egger reports. "TSPR was even told that the public radio station was not mentioned in any closed session meeting of the BoT – a conclusion you might come to if you simply looked at the paragraph-long meeting minutes from the June 28 closed session. But in reality, TSPR was brought up multiple times in that morning’s closed meeting."
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