Not Football, but BOR Related

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This may be a great chance for a number of our alumni to express concerns over the hiring of the new president.

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Regents required to hear public

New law obligates boards of regents to hear public comments at meetings

07:29 AM CDT on Thursday, August 25, 2005

By Matthew Zabel / Staff Writer

University boards of regents will have to reserve a time for public comment at their regularly quarterly meetings, according to a new law that goes into effect Sept. 1.

All 35 public universities in the state, including the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University, will have to revise their policies to comply with the new law.

Regents from UNT and TWU will require that the comments be related to an item on the board’s agenda for that meeting, and will require each speaker to make a request identifying the agenda item he or she wants to speak on and whether he or she wants to speak for or against it, at least a day before the meeting.

Both boards have allowed the public to address the board in the past, but it required more advance notice (one week for TWU, two weeks for UNT), and the board was not obligated to allow the speaker to speak.

Members of the public rarely attend the board meetings, and Dr. Ann Stuart, TWU’s chancellor and president, said she doesn’t expect that to change much.

That’s because the large majority of the items on that board’s agendas are internal and of little interest to the public, she said.

When there have been items of great public interest, the board has allowed people to speak, she said.

But she welcomed the change.

“I think this is about transparency in government,” Stuart said. “It comes from the whole movement in this country for corporation boards to be more open.”

UNT Chancellor Lee Jackson said he, too, did not expect a major change in the length or format of the meetings because that board has been receptive when people have asked to speak, “but it will provide a uniform format for them where the public can address the board with its specific concerns.”

TWU’s new policy, which its board is scheduled to vote on Friday, allows three minutes per speaker, up to 10 speakers per agenda item and up to 25 speakers total per meeting. That public comment time will be at the beginning of the meeting, the policy says.

UNT’s new policy, which the board adopted last week, will allow three minutes for each speaker. Also, the board chairman might impose a 20-minute limit on public comment for one agenda item.

Both schools’ policies also lay out new rules for submitting written comments to the board.

MATTHEW ZABEL can be reached at 940-566-6884. His e-mail address is mzabel@dentonrc.com.