There's a chance Ball State's Board of Trustees may have violated Indiana's Open Door Law.
So what?
The Open Door Laws were first established in Indiana in the 1940s, according to journalism law professor Mark Popovich. In the late 1970s, it was revisited and modified to include criteria for executive sessions.
Popovich said that before the law was modified, public agencies would often call executive sessions in the middle of their open meetings to debate. The group would return and vote unanimously, leaving the public with no idea what occured.
We say again: So what?
Accountability. That's what.
The Open Door Law ensure that public agencies remain accountable to the public. When meetings are held in private, away from the public eye, public agencies become a petrie dish for corruption.
Is Ball State's Board of Trustees violating the Open Door Law? We don't know. But there is evidence to indicate it could be happening. And that is enough for us to report on it.
The trustees establish tuition rates, admission standards and student fees. They hire and can fire the university's president and approve nearly all major changes to university policy.
Given that, shouldn't the community know everything it can about this organization? Shouldn't the community know when the Board of Trustee's newest member describes actions that blatantly disregard the Open Door Law?
We think so.
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