SGA claims transparency, plans to open meetings

        During the Senate meeting for the Student Government Association last week, President James Dutton addressed The Signal's recent article about the transparency of the SGA and its violation of Open Meetings laws.

       He said that the SGA is in no way a "closed door organization." The SGA also received a letter from Legal Affairs last Wednesday detailing the University's official policy regarding compliance with the state's Open Meetings law.

        According to the SGA, the meeting was closed to discuss personnel issues. Specially, SGA members were concerned that sensitive information like the students' GPAs would be released.

        The Student Government Association's Executive Board has improperly closed all of its Wednesday E-Board meetings to date, according to Georgia State's Office of Legal Affairs.

SGA members received a letter from Legal Affairs last Wednesday detailing the university's official policy regarding compliance with the state's Open Meetings law.

       The E-Board closed the meetings due to "personnel" issues because the meeting included discussions about potential candidates for office and could have incorporated discourse about student GPAs and other sensitive data, according to SGA President James Dutton.

       However, meetings that include discussion about filling an SGA vacancy are not grounds for closure because "student representatives, student leaders, student officers, etc. are not public officers or employees whose information is legally protected from disclosure," according to the Office of Legal Affairs.

      Dr. Eric Blacknall, the Student Advisor for SGA, stated that the organization's concerns regarding the Oct. 5 meeting were rooted in concerns about sensitive information—such as the GPAs of students seeking office—being discussed.

      In discussing whether the Oct. 5 meeting should have been closed, Blacknall emphasized that inclusion and transparency are the goals he has for SGA.

"My personal position is the Student Government Association represents the entire student body. The desire—the dream—of me as the advisor is to have everyone actively involved in the Student Government Association," Blacknall said.

     Georgia State student Jerel Marshall, a senior journalism major, stated that some SGA meetings should be closed if personal data is being discussed.

"Any type of information about any person should warrant a meeting being closed because that person might not be ok with everybody knowing about their personal information such as GPA, ab- sences, things like that," Marshall said.

    While SGA has clearly stated that the Oct. 5 E-Board meeting was closed to the public, Dutton denied that the Oct. 19 meeting was closed from the public and that the organization members simply could not hear the knocking.

"Our whole purpose in being part of the Stu- dent Government is to get all the information we can to the students. It's a little hurtful to be accused of hiding information when our entire purpose is to get the information to the students," Dutton said.

      Because the SGA office opens at 8:30 a.m. and the Executive Board Meetings are held from 8 to 9 a.m., the door is locked for the first half of the meet- ings. According to the Office of Legal Affairs, this means that the meeting is closed and potentially a violation of stated rules and regulations: "Meetings held in locations not accessible to non-members, such as in locked buildings or offices, are not open and would not comply with the university's practices."

    The vice president of Student Life, Ben Williams, stated that SGA plans to rectify the challenges posed by the times the weekly Executive Board Meetings are held.

     "We are working on making our Executive Board Meetings more conducive for others, yet with our busy schedules they will most likely stay in SGA at 8-9 a.m.," said Williams. " Yet, we will ensure individuals who want access are able to whether it be opening our office early or whatever needs to be taken,"