McNinch opposes closed meetings for Faculty Senate

by Jolene Toves

Guam - University of Guam professor Ron McNinch is fighting for openness and academic freedom. He is expressing his concerns about a proposal before the University of Guam's Faculty Senate that is scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon.

According to the agenda, the senate is scheduled to deliberate an amendment to its handbook to clarify conditions under which it may enter confidential or executive closed sessions. "WASC Standard 1.3 requires the university and requires the faculty senate to follow academic freedom standards the enforcement arm of academic freedoms at the University of Guam is the University of Guam Faculty Senate and they are the ones I believe who violated my rights in this regard," he said.

McNinch adds the UOG Faculty Senate was chartered by the board of regents and as such he believes is subject to the Open Government Law. The professor has also filed a complaint with the recently created freedom of information council.

The faculty senate is scheduled to meet tomorrow at 2pm in the HSS Building.