By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com
Experts on Missouri’s Sunshine Law say the Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors apparently violated the law last week when it tabbed members of a presidential search committee behind closed doors.
The board went into closed session Friday to appoint members of the search committee. That committee will select at least three finalists from a pool of applicants to replace President Julio Leon, whose last day with the title is Sept. 1.
The selection of a committee never should have been closed to the public, said Jean Maneke, an attorney with the Missouri Press Association, on Wednesday.
“Naming a search committee doesn’t fit under any of the exceptions to the Sunshine Law,” she said. “I think the board got bad legal advice.”
Board Chairman Dwight Douglas said the meeting was closed so that committee members could be informed of their selection and confirm their participation. He said he does not believe it was a violation of the Sunshine Law.
“We needed to have a frank discussion about the composition of the committee, and we did not want to discuss names of prominent people who we had not had the opportunity to visit with,” said Douglas, a Neosho lawyer. “We feel like it was a correct use of the Sunshine Law.”
The law allows public boards to close meetings to, among other things, discuss the hiring, firing, disciplining or promotion of employees, but it makes no reference to the selection of committee members. If not cited specifically, the law states, matters are construed to be open to the public.
The board voted Friday to go behind closed doors at the beginning and end of its meeting, citing the Sunshine Law exception regarding employees. Notice of the closed session was printed on the meeting agenda.
During the first closed session, board members accepted Leon’s departure and appointed Terri Agee as acting president. Douglas announced the actions of the closed portion before resuming with the agenda.
After the agenda was completed, the board returned to closed session. When the meeting was reopened, Douglas announced the creation of the committee and identified some members, including Agee and board members David Jones and Jane Wyman.
Douglas said the board was advised by its attorney, Jon Dermott, that it could close the discussion under the personnel exception of the Sunshine Law.
Dermott declined to comment Wednesday.
Charles N. Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition based at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said the personnel exemption allows boards to discuss only the hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of an employee.
“In this case, they don’t have an employee to hire, fire or discipline,” Davis said. “They don’t have an individual in mind. The personnel exemption in the Sunshine law is straightforward.”
Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson said the matter had not been brought to his attention.
“I don’t know all the facts,” he said.
Selecting members
The full list of committee members was released Tuesday by the university. It includes representatives of the university’s faculty, administration, foundation, alumni association and student body, and others from the area.
Douglas said the board wanted to have a mix of representatives on the committee.
“We were more focused on representing groups than people,” he said. “But, we also wanted to pick people who had demonstrated a long-term commitment to Southern. I think we have a high-quality committee.”
With the committee members being appointed in closed session, people who might have wanted to serve on the panel might have been denied a chance. But, Davis said universities usually tab committee members based on their judgment, not from a pool of volunteers.
“University boards aren’t going to have casting calls for search committees,” he said. “They have to do it in a manageable way.”
Missouri State University in Springfield conducted a presidential search in 2004. The school’s Board of Governors selected an 18-member group with representatives of many university segments.
John McAlear, secretary for MSU’s board, said the committee members were selected in open session on May 13, 2004.
“We tried to have representatives from several different groups,” McAlear said. “The vice president of the board worked with administration to get recommendations of names from various groups.”
Like Southern, Missouri Western State University, in St. Joseph, also is looking for a new president.
Kent Heier, assistant director of public relations, said that university’s board will meet tonight in open session to formally appoint a selection committee.
President’s departure
Unlike Southern, Missouri State and Missouri Western had much more time to prepare. Western’s president won’t step down until April 2008. MSU had more than a year’s advance notice of its president’s resignation.
Douglas said the Southern board had not had much of a chance to discuss a successor for Leon, who announced his resignation Friday.
“The first time we met and discussed a new president was on Friday,” Douglas said. “That doesn’t mean individual members hadn’t given the matter any thought. We had been discussing with Leon what might happen.”
Leon was 44 when he was appointed MSSU’s president in December 1982. He has been president for 25 years. He had a rolling three-year contract, which was reviewed and renewed by the board annually.
His contract was up for review in June, but the board did not make a decision on an extension at that time. Leon, in June, said he needed to consider offers from the board.
When asked Friday why Leon submitted his resignation, Douglas said that only Leon knew the reason. The Globe’s efforts to obtain comment from Leon were unsuccessful.
He will be paid his annual salary of $168,000 for the year that was left on his contract.
Deadline
Applicants for the Missouri Southern presidency have until Nov. 1 to submit their resumes. The search committee plans to choose at least three finalists.
