A gathering last week of the UNC Board of Governors was not open to the public, and notice of the event was not provided to the news media ahead of time - raising questions about whether the gathering violated the state's open meetings law.

A majority of the public board met privately at the university system's Center for School Leadership Development in Chapel Hill from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 10, before adjourning for a reception and dinner together. On the morning of Aug. 11, members gathered privately for breakfast and about two hours of discussion.

Later that day and the next, the board convened again at regularly scheduled meetings that were open to the public and attended by reporters. A three-page agenda for the orientation event called it a "workshop." Some board members referred to it as a "retreat."

A university spokeswoman said about 30 of the board's 32 members attended the event, which was paid for by the university. UNC President Tom Ross also was there. No roll was taken, and no minutes were kept.

Laura Luger, vice president and general counsel for the UNC system's General Administration, said the event was an informal gathering where no deliberations or decisions were made. Therefore, she said, the university was under no obligation to open the event to the public.

"Well, it wasn't a meeting, and we didn't close it," Luger said. "It was outside the scope of an official meeting by all of its parameters."

But Amanda Martin, an attorney for the N.C. Press Association, said the gathering appeared to be subject to the open meetings law. She pointed out that the event was hosted by the university, held at the university and had all the markings of an "official meeting."

"It's true that the open meetings law does not apply to social meetings, but at least a portion of this meeting was not of a purely social nature," Martin said. "If this simply had been cocktails and dinner to get to know one another, that would be different."

'Rules of the Game'

Discussion at the event was facilitated by Terry MacTaggart, a senior fellow with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, a national organization that serves academic boards.

The detailed agenda included topics such as: what it means to be a high-performing board; board leadership and communication; informed advocacy and support for the university; and what the board needs from its president and vice versa. Under a section called "Rules of the Game," one heading said, "For today, discussion ... not decision-making."

But the agenda also included information about the issues facing the university. It said: "Change is the order of the day in North Carolina and its public higher education system."

Partisan shift

The group's first gatherings last week had a historic feel, with a new slate of members constituting a Republican majority after decades of a board dominated by Democrats. The new members were elected this year by a legislature controlled by Republicans for the first time in more than a century.