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Don’t expect to be able to watch or listen online to State Regents for Higher Education meetings anytime soon. While the State Board of Education makes audio recordings of its meetings available online through iTunes, Higher Education Chancellor Glen Johnson says there are no such plans in the works for his agency.
“Where we are now is our current policy and that’s where we are at the present time,” Johnson told Oklahoma Watchdog after Thursday’s short meeting (see video below). He also said that “as we are all changing we always review all that.”
The State Board of Education also has a public comment period at the beginning of its meetings to allow input on any action item on the agenda. Johnson says there is a tuition and fee hearing in April where the public can – and does – comment on tuition proposals. But it doesn’t seem like there are any plans to open every meeting with a comment period. ”We have our structure the way it is now which we’ve had good comments on so that’s where we are for now,” Johnson stated. ”We are always very sensitive to input and will continue to be.”
The Regents for OU, OSU and the regional universities also do not post audio or video of their meetings online. All three do post minutes of previous meetings separately whereas the Regents for Higher Education meeting minutes are only found in the agenda materials. Regents for OU and the regional universities do not have time set aside at each meeting for public comment, but the Oklahoma A&M Regents which oversee OSU, Connors State, Langston, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, and Panhandle State do have a 15-minute public comment period at each meeting.
