North Dakota transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from North Dakota.
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| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
"A push by North Dakota's university system for more secrecy in hiring college presidents has failed.
The measure would have exempted the first round of applications for high-level jobs from public disclosure. It applied to college presidents and the chancellor of North Dakota's university system."
"Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says the city of Mandan violated North Dakota's open records law by demanding personal information from a researcher who asked about city spending.
C.T. Marhula of Grand Forks asked for Stenehjem's opinion after the city declined to respond immediately to his request."
"The Mandan School Board wants to tell the public what it can, or rather cannot, say at public meetings.
The board is contemplating a move to airing its board meetings on public access television. This has some board members concerned about what patrons might say about the district or its employees during the public comments section.
"I am concerned about how it occurred in the past," board member Dan Leingang said. "It has not always been a positive environment. I do not want to broadcast public communication unmonitored.""
"A bill that aims to allow local governing bodies to gather during a disaster without issuing a public meeting notice got the endorsement of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
The bill would change the North Dakota open meeting law, allowing county commissioners, for example, to gather in the same room during a disaster, such as a tornado or flood, to help with the emergency response."
"No, no, no.
That's our response to a bill submitted to the North Dakota Legislature that would place restrictions on public information regarding applicants for state university president jobs and the university system's chancellor's position.
Simply, unequivocally, no."
"North Dakota's university system is pushing to limit public information about applicants for college presidency jobs and the system's chancellor, and a legislative panel concluded the request made sense.
The North Dakota Senate's Education Committee voted 4-1 on Wednesday to recommend that the full Senate approve the measure, which would make job candidates' names public only if they made a list of semifinalists for the position."
"This morning, the state Board of Higher Education takes its quest for closed records to a legislative committee.
The hearing on Senate Bill 2087 is under way. It would make the names of college president applicants secret until finalists are picked, and then only the finalists’ names will be revealed, not the full list of applicants.
The proposed law runs counter to the state constitution’s open records-open meeting clause. Legislators are allowed to enact laws making exceptions to open records and meetings."
"A university cannot hide behind federal privacy laws to refuse to honor an open-records request for information about the disciplinary sanctions levied for violations of student conduct codes, North Dakota's Attorney General has ruled.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem issued his opinion after the Grand Forks Herald was denied student-discipline records related to incidents involving anti-Semitic graffiti in May 2008. The newspaper asked for documents with identifying information removed, but the university cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
The university claimed because one student's name had been released through court documents, the newspaper would be able to identify the student even with the redacted information."
"The University of North Dakota must reconsider its refusal to disclose student disciplinary records if the documents have been edited to avoid identifying individual students, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says.
UND rebuffed a June request from the Grand Forks Herald for information about disciplinary actions against students who were living in West Residence Hall in May, documents say.
The newspaper itself asked that the documentation be edited to remove identifying information, including the students' names, addresses and any personal identifiers, such as university ID numbers."
"A proposal to restrict the public’s access to applications for university president and chancellor positions in North Dakota will be forwarded to the Legislature.
The state Board of Higher Education unanimously agreed Thursday to introduce a bill that would keep names of applicants secret until candidates become semifinalists.
The legislation would exempt records identifying applicants from North Dakota’s open records law, which requires most government records to be open to the public."
