Official says IU violated spirit of law

The board of trustees used an intimate knowledge of state laws to narrowly avoid breaking Indiana's Open Door laws Sept. 9, one day before President Myles Brand announced basketball coach Bob Knight's release.\nThe trustees intentionally met in two groups of four before that day's football game to discuss Brand's decision to fire basketball coach Bob Knight. Brand said it was not necessary to hold a formal meeting because the board decided in May that it would take action if Knight failed to follow guidelines set forth at the time.\nBut Anne O'Connor, Indiana's public access counselor, said such impromptu meetings shrink a body's credibility in the eyes of the public.\n"It's not a violation of (the) letter of law, but it violates (the) spirit of the law," O'Connor said. "It hinders the stature (the board) has, in the eyes of who watch what they're doing: alumni, students, watchers of IU. Citizens certainly have a right to observe how government works."\nIndiana Code 5-14-1.5 states, "that the official action of public agencies be conducted and taken openly, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, in order that the people may be fully informed."\nTrustee Cora Breckenridge said Brand left a message on her voice mail stating that she needed to drive from Elkhart to Bloomington in time for the morning meeting.\n"The President told us he purposely didn't want a quorum of trustees," Breckenridge said. "He was having a meeting with four trustees at 10 o'clock and a meeting with four trustees after that. The ninth (trustee, John Walda) was out of the country."\nIf five members of the board, a quorum, meet at the same time, state law requires that they give notice to the public 48 hours in advance. At such a meeting, they would have to meet publicly or state their reasons for not doing so.\nWhile the board did not hold an official meeting, defined as "a gathering of a majority of the governing body of a public agency for the purpose of taking official action upon public business," it is in dispute whether the trustees did take "official action." That is defined in Indiana Code 5-14-1.5-2 (d) as "Official action means to receive information; deliberate; make recommendations…"\n"There were deliberations of course," Breckenridge said, "but it was not a meeting where we could do any voting because it was not an official meeting. There was not a quorum there, and that was done purposely by the President." \nBrand said informal communication between the trustees and him are important to conducting business.\n"I wanted to brief the trustees, but most importantly I wanted to get their perception," Brand said. "I asked each of the trustees, 'What is your opinion?'" \nBreckenridge said she met with trustees Frederick Eichhorn, Stephen Ferguson and Dean Hertzler, also an IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis senior. Hertzler confirmed that he had private conversations with several trustees that day.\n"The president was told that the matter of Coach Knight grabbing the young man was under investigation, and he was waiting for the police report, and that once he received that report he wanted to make a determination of how we needed to proceed," Breckenridge said. "That was in essence of what the meeting was all about."\nTrustee Stephen Backer was adamant that the board did not violate state laws.\n"No way. Absolutely no way," said Backer, an Indianapolis lawyer. "As my understanding of the sunshine law, there's no way"