Mount Oread Messenger: September 23, 2020

A complaint over the Kansas Open Meetings Act Email not displaying correctly? [View the web version]( [Mount Oread Messenger]( Good morning! Today, I want to highlight a state law called the Kansas Open Meetings Act. Earlier this month, just before the Mount Oread Messenger launched, [I wrote a story]( about how KU has no records of what a nine-member committee of area doctors and health experts (including Chancellor Douglas Girod) had talked about in weekly meetings geared toward reopening KU's campuses. This is an issue, though, because when Girod created the committee, his pitch to the other committee members (which the Journal-World received through a public records request) said they would be making determinations about the status of campus operations, and in a worst case scenario would make the decision to close KU's campus similar to the spring 2020 semester. Lawrence First Amendment lawyer Max Kautsch said in the initial story that by definition, those are binding actions related to the conduct of a public agency, meaning that KU should be bound by KOMA. The state's open meeting act states which says that public meetings must be available and accessible to both the general public and the media, especially if those groups request access to such meetings. Kautsch: “If KU created the ‘medical and advisory team,’ recent opinions by the Attorney General’s Office indicate that it is a ‘subordinate group’ subject to the state’s open meeting’s laws. But even if it can be argued that the chancellor, individually, created the team, the email he wrote suggests that the team has authority to make decisions about various critical issues related to the functioning of the university, including whether to close campus. If the team’s role is to make such decisions, open meetings laws apply.” *** Why does this matter two weeks later? The Journal-World in writing the initial story confirmed with the presidents of KU's Faculty and University senates — which are made up of faculty members and student representatives — that they had both asked for access to the Pandemic Medical Advisory Team meetings on multiple occasions since its creation was announced June 29, but never got a clear answer. I also asked for notice of any future PMAT meetings myself as part of the reporting, but never received an acknowledgement of the request from KU officials. But yesterday I learned that Wes Cudney, the president of a student group called Against Rising Tuition at KU, did the same thing and was denied access. This was because KU determined the meetings are not subject to KOMA, he told me. In response, he filed a formal complaint against the university for alleged violations of KOMA, citing both his request for access to PMAT meetings as well as the newspaper's story. This is an avenue available in Kansas for resolving issues regarding both open records requests and open meeting disputes. Normally, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt will refer complaints to local district attorneys for them to suss out whether corrective action is needed — but, if the conduct is egregious enough, Schmidt's office will issue its own corrective actions. This normally includes remedial training on government transparency laws, a mandate to turn over the records in question, and up to a $500 fine for each upheld violation of the two laws. I will do my best to keep you appraised of how Wes' complaint ends up, as it could potentially result in mandatory changes for KU and how it disseminates public records and meeting information. That's all for today, see you on Friday! [Strong Hall]( [President of KU student group files open meetings complaint against university over lack of access to pandemic meetings]( Wes Cudney, the president of Against Rising Tuition at KU, said he filed the complaint after reading a past Journal-World article about a lack of meeting minutes for KU's Pandemic Medical Advisory Team, asked for access to the meetings himself, and was denied. [Read the full story here]( IN OTHER KU NEWS [56 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed at KU; 7-day positive rate inches higher]( The University of Kansas announced Tuesday that it has confirmed another 56 cases of COVID-19 since it last released data on Friday, bringing the university’s cumulative case total to 938. In the most recent 7-day period where data is available, the community also tested positive at a slightly higher rate than the week prior — 6.85% compared to 4.32%. [Testing sign]( [Les Miles not yet ready to play just 1 quarterback for KU football]( Miles indicated this week the Jayhawks will open Big 12 play without a true starting QB and continue to give both Thomas MacVittie and Miles Kendrick in-game reps. KU faces Baylor at 6:30 p.m. Saturday — the game will be televised on ESPNU. [Thomas MacVittie]( If you enjoy the Mount Oread Messenger, you can [subscribe to receive it here.]( To reach Mount Oread Messenger author Conner Mitchell, please email cmitchell@ljworld.com or call 785-832-6388. Tips can also be submitted at [Conner's tip form]( or at his secure email address,[connermitchell@protonmail.com](mailto:connermitchell@protonmail.som). [subscribe to the lawrence journal-world here]( This message was sent by the Lawrence Journal-World. You are receiving this because at some point in the past you shared your email address with the Journal-World To opt-out of emails like this, click the link below. 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