GPSA set to open council meetings

Key members of the GPSA voted Saturday to follow the New Mexico Open Meetings Act to the letter.

The Graduate and Professional Student Association, meeting as a committee-of-the-whole, voted in support of a constitutional clause that would require members to follow all provisions of the state law that requires legislative bodies to open their meetings to the public.

“In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them,” the act reads.

A committee-of-the-whole cannot make official changes to the GPSA constitution. However, most of the GPSA members who will be present at the Oct. 3 council meeting, where the changes can be made, were present at the committee-of-the-whole meeting on Saturday.

The committee-of-the-whole voted to comply with the New Mexico Open Meetings Act in council meetings but not in committee meetings. Also, it discussed posting videos of meetings online but decided not to.

GPSA Council Chair Danny Hernandez said the act requires posting meeting times and locations at least 24 hours in advance. He said this is too much for an informal committee of less than 10 people.

“I think the requirements of the open meetings act are too onerous for our small committees,” he said.

The committee also discussed holding meetings electronically by using Skype, the Internet telephone service, to post video on the GPSA Web site.

GPSA President Lissa Knudsen said that holding meetings over Skype would provide the public with greater access to the meetings.

“It’s a way to fairly have everyone represented,” she said.

Hernandez said the cost of putting the video option on the GPSA Web site outweighed the benefits of having every meeting broadcast.

“I’ll be honest, I’m extremely wary with electronic meetings for a variety of reasons,” he said.

Council member Dean Palacios also voiced opposition to the electronic meetings. He said the technology would be too difficult for the public to use.