The UW regents have moved their monthly dinner meetings on campus after being sued for allegedly violating the state’s Open Meetings Act.
The dinner meetings, which precede the regular regents meetings held on campus, are billed as “social” events but university business is typically discussed at them.
Previously, these dinner meetings were held at the university president’s off-campus mansion. Theoretically, the public could observe, but were discouraged from doing so. The university didn’t provide a meeting location address, parking was limited, and observers were required to stand in an adjoining porch that lacked wheelchair access, behind a rope line guarded by university police, from where it was difficult to hear what was being said in the meeting. Even so, some observers did show up.
A topic discussed at a recent dinner meeting was constructing an underground building to house primate experiments. Primate testing is controversial and has been a target of protests by animal-welfare groups. The regents approved the building at a subsequent regular meeting, but the UW said the regents will take a revote on the issue “out of an abundance of caution.” That won’t satisfy critics, who will see it as nothing more than a pro forma exercise to satisfy the letter of the law.
“The agenda for this Wednesday’s dinner meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m., includes a legislative preview, an update on the medical-school program, a presentation on enhancing the UW’s relations with the city of Seattle, and a discussion of university goals by Young and Provost Ana Mari Cauce,” according to the Seattle Times.