By: Diane Benjamin
I have filed a Request for Review with the Attorney General’s office based on this meeting held by Dr. Susan Kalter, the Chair of the Academic Senate at ISU: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/16/looks-like-a-revolt-at-isu/
Part 2 was supposed to happen tonight to finish what didn’t get done last Thursday. Tonight’s meeting has been postponed indefinitely, the notice sent by Susan isn’t telling the whole truth, but ISU needs to hold her accountable. I suggest if you were going to attend you verify her facts with legal. She claims to have consulted Counsel before the last meeting but now legal has changed their mind after receiving an email from the State’s Attorney. My sources tell a different story.
Dear faculty,
Prior to our all-faculty meeting last Thursday, having consulted with University Counsel, I was under the understanding that an all-faculty meeting at ISU was not a meeting under the Open Meetings Act.
On Sunday at 4:14 p.m., we received a notice from the State’s Attorney Don Knapp that he would deem any meeting where a majority of a quorum of our campus’s Senators is present and where public business is being discussed to constitute an Open Meeting. University Counsel has advised that all university business could potentially be deemed “public business,” even if it had never appeared on a Senate agenda or the agendas of any of its internal or external committees.
Therefore, we are postponing this evening’s meeting to receive further feedback, as the above leaves the faculty with two unsatisfactory choices: to restrict some or all Senators from attending the meeting or to deem all-faculty meetings to be Open Meetings where posting of agendas 48 hours in advance, public attendance, and opportunity for public comment occur.
If you have feedback regarding these two choices, please email me ([email protected]). Best, Susan
ISU will be notified by the Attorney General’s Public Access office – 2020 PAC 63926
Since tonight’s meeting was canceled because it violates the Open Meetings Act, so did Thursday’s. Just admit guilt and save everybody a lot of time.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Also thanks to all the clueless on Facebook who claimed I was wrong.
Libs, demonrats, etc. Deceive to achieve. It’s all they know.
👏👏👏. Yes! Great job Diane and Don Knapp!
Thanks
Interesting in their newly posted agenda is that they propose students who don’t follow the mask rule to be reported to the Dean of Students and permanently suspended from that class. However, faculty/staff who do not follow the same guidelines should be WFH or leave. Why not permanently suspend them from the semester without pay? That type of proposal shows that the people behind it care about one thing: the faculty/staff. The Academic Senate is not a faculty union.
Some are more equal than others.
I find it ironic that the same members of academia that have for years bashed online colleges/universities and other disruptive learning models (e.g. Coursera, Udemia) have all of sudden discovered the benefits of remote education. Hmm…could it be because it benefits them?