Not so open: Critics say UNC Board of Governors excludes the public from its "public" meetings

Hoping to hear some discussion of the future of the “Silent Sam” Confederate monument, Lindsay Ayling and a few other UNC-Chapel Hill students attempted to attend last week’s meeting of the UNC Board of Governors.

Attempted, as it turns out, was the operative word.

Before the meeting began, while most of the seats in the board room were still empty, Ayling and two other students were told there was no room for them. All the chairs in the room – even the ones that appeared to be empty – were reserved in advance, they were told by campus police.

Not only was there no room for them, they were told, but they would have to exit the Center for School Leadership Development building and sit outside while the meeting happened.

The students were escorted past the hallways and lounges where others without seats stood without being questioned and forced to sit on a bench outside the building while two campus police officers guarded the door.

Read more: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2019/05/30/unc-board-of-governors-vs-open-meetings/