University of Wisconsin officials emphasized meetings held on restructuring the university’s human resources system were and are open to the public following a petition to the Wisconsin Attorney General that claimed the meetings violated state Open Meetings Law.
On Monday, the Wisconsin University Union, a group of faculty and academic staff, filed a petition to request Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen determine whether closed meetings hosted to develop the new policies violate the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.
Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell said in a statement released Wednesday the Advisory Committee and work teams involved in the project allow visitors to attend meetings and no one who has asked to attend has been refused.
“Although we stand by our position that these meetings involving members of the campus community do not trigger the open meetings law, I want to make it clear that going forward any interested person is welcome to attend all meetings of the Advisory Committee and work teams,” Bazzell said.
WUU’s complaint focused on Advisory Committee meetings, which coordinate projects completed by the various teams of the HR Design Project.
Bazzell added the products of the work teams are an initial step in the process of redesigning the personnel system, with campus engagement events to gather more feedback on their findings to be hosted in April.
Hundreds of campus employees have already attended in-campus forums or participated in web chats during February, Bazzell said. He added openness has been a cornerstone in the project from the beginning and has helped to make the project successful.
“As I have said before, the opportunity to refine a human resources system to meet the unique needs of a world-class research and teaching institution doesn’t come along often: We need to make sure we get it right,” Bazzell said.
WUU member David Ahrens said Bazzell’s statement repeats the rhetoric of an open process UW officials have used before, but lacks true transparency.
Ahrens said an open meeting means members of the public can attend a meeting at their discretion, rather than the discretion of the people holding the meeting. He added while the design meetings are open to participants who request an invitation, this process does mean the meetings are open according to state law.
“I think the points Vice Chancellor Bazzell makes throughout is the importance of the project,” Ahrens said. “If nothing else, that underlines the reason why these meetings should be open.”
Ahrens added if the Attorney General finds the meetings are in violation of the Open Meetings Law, the individuals hosting the meetings will be held liable rather than the university.
UW could also potentially not reimburse the individuals, who could be fined hundreds of dollars if the meetings were closed illegally, Ahrens said.
“I think that if [UW] was told they were liable, they would look more closely at the actual law,” Ahrens said. “Because I think that if you look at the actual law the position of the university is not really defensible.”
