Judge rules for OU in open meeting suit

Student editors at Oakland University may appeal a judge's decision that the Board of Trustees did not violate the Michigan Open Meetings act when it held a secret meeting in January.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Richard Kuhn issued the ruling Wednesday in the case, which stemmed from a meeting in which editors of the Oakland Post were kept out of a 2-hour session about looming state budget cuts.

The students sued in March, alleging the board violated the law by keeping them out and not filing notice that the meeting would be held.

"As a staff, we're really disappointed," said Rebecca Wyatt, editor of the Oakland Post. "It's a really scary thing that people are losing their First Amendment rights. We're not really sure yet where we go from here."

Herschel Fink, the attorney who filed the suit on the students' behalf, said they'll make a decision in about a week on whether to appeal. Support of major news organizations in the state will be key to the decision. Fink also represents the Free Press.

On the OU campus, administrators were pleased with Kuhn's ruling. The university had argued that the open meetings lawdoes not apply to meetings of the governing boards of state universities.

But Ted Montgomery, OU spokesman, said the board does not conduct any business in secret.

"All of the business of Oakland University is conducted in open meetings with public input," Montgomery said.

The January meeting, which was not public, was an informational meeting in which no decisions were made and no business was conducted, Montgomery said.

"No votes on any issues having to do with Oakland University were conducted at that meeting, nor have they ever. That's not how our board operates."

Fink said Kuhn ruled in favor of secrecy. But he was more concerned that a university would opt to operate outside the public eye.

"Why would they want to exclude the public? Why wouldn't they want the public to have confidence in their decisions and decision-making?"

Some OU journalism instructors remain skeptical of Kuhn's decision and will seek further review of his ruling.

"This is certainly a setback, but we're not taking this as a defeat," said Holly Gilbert, an OU journalism instructor and faculty adviser to the Oakland Post. "If universities don't have to abide by the Open Meetings Act, who's next? To me, it just makes sense, of course they should have to hold their meetings open to the public. This decision is just muddying up the whole issue."