UW System needs to be more open

The law is clear. Wisconsin’s open records law requires the release of public documents as soon as practicable and without delay. So then it should also be clear that the University of Wisconsin System violated that law when it sat on its more than $6 billion budget for next year. The UW Board of Regents members were provided with that 60 page document six days before they voted to approve it. But no one else got to see that document. It was not until 90 minutes prior to that Regents meeting that the UW System officially released copies of the budget. According to the spirit, if not the letter of the law, once a document is finalized, it should be released to the public. That should happen as soon as the Regents get their copies. What does it matter? The state’s open records law is designed to keep members of the public informed of the state’s business. Citizens can’t offer their opinions, or urge changes to the proposal if they only get to see it within an hour and a half of its approval. If the regents need six days to review the proposal, the public should have that much time as well. Wisconsin taxpayers who fund the university deserve that.