Journalists' society leader: Why a lawsuit is unlikely
I just spoke with MN SPJ secretary Art Hughes. Although the regents were successfully sued in 2004 over a similar issue, he said this time he doesn't see legal action on the horizon:
The regents, or administration, did a pretty good job of insulating themselves from any sort of legal challenge. Last time they blatantly violated the open-meetings law. It’s not as blatant this time around. They maintained it so no quorum of any body ever met with the candidate at once. They did it in shifts.
So they may have complied the letter of the law, but certainly not with spirit of the law.
Where we go from here is to just apply pressure and explain to the public that this is their process, and for regents and administration to circumvent it like this is a travesty. ... We should call it what it is and hopefully they’ll gain their conscience and change their ways in the future.
I'm sure President Kaler is very capable. I just think that it’s a shame that he has to come into this process with this cloud over his head.
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