An open and shut case

Yours truly came across this story in a recent edition of Inside Higher Ed: The University of Florida is opening its board retreats to the public after the Board of Trustees was accused of violating state law by essentially holding closed meetings, NPR affiliate WUFT reported. While board retreats are supposed to be public, in accordance with Florida’s Sunshine Law, the UF governing board has met in secret quarters since 2018. Though the board gave notice of the meeting dates as required by law, the university did not provide the location of the retreats, which critics argue amount to conducting closed meetings...

Following critical coverage, UF spokesperson Steve Orlando told the NPR affiliate that board retreats are public and that the board’s “intent has never been to close them.” Going forward, the university will publish the location of such retreats ahead of time, he said.

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/12/09/university-florida-accused-sunshine-law-violations.

Of course, California has similar laws requiring open meetings - with exceptions for certain topics such as personnel actions. When the UC Regents hold their retreats, they are open technically except for such topics. Unlike their other meetings, however, the retreats don't take place on a campus where lots of folks can easily attend. Nor are they live-streamed, with the recordings available thereafter. In principle, anyone could have driven up to the UC Lake Arrowhead resort and attended the most recent retreat. From the Westside of LA, the drive would take about 2 hours. 

So, yes, you can attend the open session. And you could bring your own recording device and make the recording public. No doubt that this meets the letter of the law. On the other hand, nothing would prevent the Regents from live-streaming the program and/or making a recording available. They just don't.

Were there open-session topics at, say, the retreat last September that were somehow especially sensitive? Below is the agenda:*

• Public Comment Period (30 minutes)
• Remarks of the Chair of the Board
• Remarks of the President of the University
• Healthcare Governance Overview
• Lunch
• Current and Future State of Artificial Intelligence

So why not use modern technology and make the proceedings more accessible? Seems like an open and shut case can be made for doing just that, even if the law doesn't require it.

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*https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/sept24/board9.4.24.pdf. Note: You can phone in your public comments. When yours truly did so on one occasion, he was the only commenter.