Student groups that operate as governmental bodies are subject to open meetings laws, according to an informal opinion issued by Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen in December.

The opinion was requested in regard to an ongoing lawsuit between University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s student newspaper The Post and the university’s records custodian and Union Policy Board, a section of the student government, that allocates office space and decides on the UW-Milwaukee Union budget.

The Post made requests in January 2009 for agendas and audio recordings of the Union Policy Board meetings, but upon receiving the records found certain portions had been redacted, said Jonathan Anderson, former editor in chief of The Post.

“There have been recent attempts by [student government organizations] to shroud themselves in secrecy and avoid public scrutiny,” Anderson said in the filed request for the opinion.

While the opinion did not comment on the current litigation between the university and The Post, it discussed whether student groups are subject to the open meetings law. The opinion stated a governmental body adhering to the open meetings law also qualifies as a group that must adhere to the open records law.

Van Hollen’s issued opinion said student groups operating as a committee, council or other governing body are held to the open meetings law.

Kevin St. John, Van Hollen spokesperson, said if a student group is active in policy development and has governmental responsibility, the group must post public notices of meetings and must be open to the public.

On the Union Policy Board website, the board’s duties are listed as “consider, review and enact policy for membership, programming and building usage.” The board consists of nine voting members, six of whom are students.

Kevin Lessmiller, current editor in chief of The Post, said as meetings of the Union Policy Board are public, questions have arisen concerning why the records they received from the public minutes were redacted.

Lessmiller said UW-Milwaukee edited the records to protect students under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.

“We want clarification on what FERPA can apply to. It’s not so much that we wanted the minutes. It’s a journalistic principal. It can affect journalistic students all over the country,” Lessmiller said.

While Lessmiller said it makes sense to protect students’ academic records and grades, he argues the board does not operate in an education context and disagrees with the university’s interpretation of FERPA.

Tom Luljak, vice chancellor of university relations and communications at UW-Milwaukee, said the university has an overall positive relationship with the paper and encourages The Post to keep asking tough questions.

“We’ve had discussions with the university and are exploring a possible resolution,” Anderson said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

Kurt Gosselin, secretary of Associated Students of Madison, could not recall any issues of ASM not releasing information for the three years he has served, and the only information not open to the public is student financial information, which is protected under FERPA.

In addition, ASM has a bylaw to adhere to the Wisconsin open records and meetings law.