From The Chronicle (10/02/08): Although the Board of Trustees has no legal obligation to open its meetings to the press, members of several media outlets said a press blockage will limit transparency and coverage of the 36-member group.
Mediawill be barred from all parts of the Trustees meeting this weekend, andChair Robert Steel, Trinity ’73, and President Richard Brodhead willnot hold the press conference that traditionally capped the meeting.
“Inthe long run, [the limited access] makes it harder for [the Trustees]to communicate to the public and raises unnecessary barriers to mediatrying to get fair information,” said Bob Ashley, editor of The(Durham) Herald-Sun.
The change-to be applied to all future Trustee meetings-was made following an internal governance review over the past year.
“It’salways a loss when you’ve been accustomed to having free flow of accessto information and then you don’t,” said Linda Williams, a senioreditor at The (Raleigh) News & Observer. “I would hope thatsomething like the Trustees’ closing of their meeting doesn’t mean thatpeople still won’t make themselves available to the press.”
BecauseDuke is a private institution, the Board is not considered to be apublic body, and is therefore not required to comply with the NorthCarolina Open Meetings Law mandating that meetings of governingcommittees be open.
Despite being private, the University doesreceive a large amount of public funding. During the 2007 fiscal year,the government gave Duke $545.5 million in grants and contracts,according to 2006-2007 Financial Statements.
Editors of localpapers-The N&O and The Herald-Sun-said that although theclosed-door policy is disappointing, there is no legal basis by whichthey can appeal it. The Trustees’ bylaws also do not mandate anyportion of their regular gatherings be public.
Williams andAshley said they have usually found the University fairly accessible tothe media, but they will now have to look into other ways of gettinginformation about the meetings-such as building stronger sourcerelations with individual Trustees to maintain coverage.
Ashleynoted that the press conference did not offer particularly profoundaccess for media to the meetings, but it did at least allow forreporters to ask questions and gather information they deemed pertinent.
“Wecould pursue angles that we may think readers may be interested in,that the University would not have thought [to announce] or may havepreferred to indulge,” Ashley said.
Chronicle Editor ChelseaAllison, a junior, said press releases are “imperfect by nature oftheir polish” and “inadequate” for relaying information to readers.
“Thisnew resolution removes the Board from scrutiny of any kind,” she added.”It creates the impression of secrecy, and that just breeds mistrust.”
Accordingto bylaws, the Board of Trustees meets at least four times each yearand is comprised of alumni and students who serve as young trustees. Itapproves the University’s budget and discusses matters to advance theUniversity’s long-range plan.