On Tuesday, Student Congress overrode Student Body President Will Leimenstoll’s veto of a bill that would amend the Student Code to have all meeting minutes of student government published online by each branch.
This is a positive step toward transparency in student government. But the next step needs to give a clearer distinction between what constitutes a meeting and what does not.
The Student Code currently requires that all meetings have their minutes recorded, and they are available for request.
By posting these minutes online, members of student government are now held more accountable, since the happenings of each meeting are just a click away.
Such transparency is welcome. However, questions naturally arise as to what constitutes a meeting.
The term “meeting” should be clarified and publicized in a way that makes clearer to students and student government members alike what, exactly, must be recorded.
Should a passing remark from Leimenstoll to a member of the executive branch in Polk Place, or members of Student Congress casually discussing a bill in a class, count as meetings?
In the Student Code, the definition of a “meeting” refers only to the definition within the public records section of the N.C. General Statutes.
Yet that statute is dense with legalese and doesn’t lend itself to easy interpretation by the elected officials it aims to regulate or the students it aims to benefit.
