The Board of Visitors, On the Record
The Daily Progress has the story today of Joan Fenton, a Charlottesville businesswoman, and her husband who are videotaping the open sessions of the Board of Visitors‘ annual retreat today and tomorrow and hired — at their own expense — a stenographer to document the proceedings.
She’s also live-streaming the open sessions.
Fenton is the mother of a U.Va. graduate, and, like many, became interested in the BOV after June’s failed ouster of President Teresa A. Sullivan. She’s the founder of a Facebook group, “Reform the UVa BOV.”
Having sat through many, many BOV meetings over the years, I can assure you that it probably does not make for riveting TV. without commenting one way or another on her viewpoint, I will say her efforts are a great exercise in democracy and open government.
(They seem to have wrapped up the open sessions for today, but will be back early tomorrow.)
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"74 Grad | August 16, 2012 @ 3:50 pm
The Board of Visitors is a public body, acting on behalf of the PUBLIC, and their discussions, decisions, and actions belong to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In the interests of transparency and honesty, the Board itself should be live streaming their meetings. Conducting its business in the open could alleviate the deep distrust of the BOV resulting from their disgraceful actions over the summer.
Board of Visitors, use the professional resources of the University to live stream meetings. Demonstrate a firm understanding of your role as guardians of The University.