After months of deliberation over Article XIII, the faculty senate voted to approve the controversial document Tuesday.

The vote passed 8-2-0 after nearly an hour-long discussion about including references to the Freedom of Information Act information within the bylaw.

Faculty senate member John Best made the revisions, which referred to the FOIA, in an effort to potentially keep names on a petition hidden from the public if deemed necessary by the faculty senate executive committee.

But even Best said nothing was certain.

“There’s no way we can guarantee confidentiality,” he said.

The bylaw refers to section seven of FOIA, which, according to the bylaw, provides an exemption for the right to inspect and copy information. The exemptions, as stated in the bylaw, would include “cases in which the disclosure of the personal information contained within a public record (i.e., a person’s signature on a petition) would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy …and to which the subject’s right to privacy outweighs the legitimate and untrammeled right of the people to know and to obtain the information.”

Senate member Joy Russell questioned if FOIA has the flexibility to consider a signature as private information.

“I don’t see in article seven where it references signatures,” Russell said during the discussion.

There is no specific mention to signatures in section seven of FOIA, which the bylaw referenced.

That portion of FOIA only identifies the invasion of personal privacy as “the disclosure of information that is highly personal or objectionable to a reasonable person and in which the subject’s right to privacy outweighs any legitimate public interest in obtaining the information.”

Best defended the revisions as “the intention is for how we’re going to conduct petitions or the referendum process.”

Faculty senate member Amy Rosenstein’s motion to make the language broad to not include personal descriptors and change the language of the bylaw to read, “inspect and copy” failed.

Members of the faculty senate then voted to approve the bylaw, with the revision to the wording Rosenstein had mentioned. At the beginning of the meeting, Elections Committee Chair Dawn VanGunten said an at-large committee position was not accounted for in the recent faculty senate elections, and another election would need to be held to fill the position. Petitions for the position are due April 23 and the elections will be April 27 and 28.

The nominations committee received correspondence from Gail Richards regarding the lack of diversity on the Intercollegiate Athletic Board, requesting that faculty senate stipulate a way for there to be more diversity.

“I don’t know if that’s something we can do,” said Marjorie Worthington, chair of the Nominations Committee.

VanGunten suggested, with the approval of the senate, the committee should instead change their internal bylaws to allow for more diverse members.

Executive elections will take place at the next meeting at 2 p.m. April 20 in Booth Library Conference Room.

Emily Steele can be reached at 581-7942 or at easteele2@eiu.edu.

Faculty senate member Dawn VanGunten speaks to board members Tuesday afternoon in Room 4440 Booth Library.(Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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