The UW System Board of Regents debated Friday about the rushed and covert nature of last Tuesday's meeting which raised the pay scales for some top UW System officials.
When Regents met Tuesday to adjust the pay scales, eight voted in favor of the increase, six were not present and three abstained. According to UW System Director of Communications Erik Christianson, Tuesday's meeting was only the third meeting in two years to be conducted via teleconference call.
Furthermore, no press releases were sent to the media regarding the meeting and no record of the decision appeared on the Board of Regents Web site directly preceding the decision. However, Board staff followed the minimum standards outlined under the open meetings laws.
Regent Nino Amato said more transparency was necessary in Tuesday's meeting.
\It was a cat and mouse game. We should notify the press [as a] clear message that the process of the Board of Regents is an open process,"" he said.
When asked whether the Board staff intentionally deflected attention from the decision, Amato responded, ""In light of the way things were posted, I think one could imply that. If not, it was a major snafu.""
Amato stated that Tuesday's decision, not required until Oct. 1, seemed rushed.
""I have to say that I felt pressured,"" he said.
On Friday, State Sen. Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) sent a letter to Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager asking for an investigation into Tuesday's meeting.
""People outside of government, when they hear educators say 'Students, students, students' and 'Children, children, children,' what they're really just saying is 'Me, me, me.' They say there's not enough money for the students, not enough money for the children; then they do something like that,"" he said.
However, Regent President Toby Marcovich defended the method in which the regents carried out the meeting.
""It wasn't done to avoid public scrutiny; there were some very legal ways we could have done this in closed session,"" he said.
UW System officials maintain such raises are necessary to quickly attract candidates for the recently vacated chancellor positions at UW-Milwaukee and UW-Stevens Point.
""These are very challenging times. We need to recruit the kind of leadership we need, or else we won't have a first-rate institution anymore,"" UW System President Katherine Lyall said.
Associated Students of Madison Chair Austin Evans said decisions made out of public light endanger the tradition of open government.
""What really concerns us is the way things went down; the student Regent didn't even know about the meeting,"" he said. ""When we have future hardships, will they hide behind a teleconference and make decisions behind the public's back?""
Lyall said raises would not be paid for by public tax money, but be derived from gifts and grants given to the university system.
ASM Vice Chair Sharon Lee said this money could be utilized elsewhere.
""For students, it's a slap in the face ... we just faced an 18 percent tuition hike this summer and just a couple months later we see salary ranges go up,"" Lee said.
