Post by Logan on Jan 27, 2016 23:32:05 GMT -6
Hearing Officer Says UConn Broke FOI Law During Closed-Door Budget Review
HARTFORD — UConn trustees violated open-meetings laws when they met behind closed doors last year to review the school's $1.3 billion proposed budget, a hearing officer with the state Freedom of Information Commission has found.
Reporters were barred from the June 24 executive session — a 90-minute meeting of the trustees' four-member financial affairs committee that UConn officials had described as a "budget presentation."
After the private meeting, which had been attended by 14 trustees and 19 senior UConn officials, including President Susan Herbst and the university's chief financial officer, the full board of trustees convened in open session and approved UConn's 2015-16 spending plan without public discussion.
Open government advocates raised concerns about the secrecy. The Courant filed its complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission in July, and Courant reporter Matthew Kauffman argued the case in a hearing last fall.
Read more: www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-foi-uconn-budget-0128-20160127-story.html
HARTFORD — UConn trustees violated open-meetings laws when they met behind closed doors last year to review the school's $1.3 billion proposed budget, a hearing officer with the state Freedom of Information Commission has found.
Reporters were barred from the June 24 executive session — a 90-minute meeting of the trustees' four-member financial affairs committee that UConn officials had described as a "budget presentation."
After the private meeting, which had been attended by 14 trustees and 19 senior UConn officials, including President Susan Herbst and the university's chief financial officer, the full board of trustees convened in open session and approved UConn's 2015-16 spending plan without public discussion.
Open government advocates raised concerns about the secrecy. The Courant filed its complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission in July, and Courant reporter Matthew Kauffman argued the case in a hearing last fall.
Read more: www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-foi-uconn-budget-0128-20160127-story.html