Board of Governors changes limit on number of public speakers at meetings, Rutgers AAUP-AFT responds
The Rutgers Board of Governors unanimously approved a resolution last month to change its bylaws so that no more than 12 public speakers may participate in each of its meetings.
The change was implemented at the Board’s most recent meeting on Dec. 17, 2020, alongside other rules for speakers, including a 2-minute time limit per person, required registration at least 24 hours before the meeting and restriction of comment to agenda items.
The bylaws previously did not have a speaker limit, according to a statement from the Rutgers American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers (AAUP-AFT).
The Board’s former meeting procedures had a five-person cap, said University spokesperson Dory Devlin. These procedures were a separate document from the bylaws, and the revised procedures with the 12-person cap are now part of the bylaws.
“The new limit of 12 isn’t as bad as five — but it’s still bad,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT. “We need more discussion and dialogue, not less.”
Wolfson said it seems as though this resolution is intended to minimize discussion during these public meetings, according to a press release. He said this step makes a mockery of the Open Public Meetings Act.
The Open Public Meetings Act does not require public participation at these meetings, but it has been the Board's customary practice to allow participation when it comes to meeting agenda items, according to the Board of Governors' current bylaws.
The five-person cap was not consistently enforced, according to a Facebook post from the union. The Daily Targum previously reported 36 speakers signed up for the Board’s meeting in October last year, in which many expressed disagreement with layoffs implemented since the start of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“I think (Board members) rightly anticipate that many, many people will want to voice similar messages in the future if the administration continues down the same road it has been following,” Wolfson said.
The resolution was added to the meeting agenda at the last minute, according to the statement. Devlin said this was due to the timing of another meeting for the Rutgers University Senate Executive Committee.
The 12-speaker limit will apply to all Board of Governors meetings going forward, she said.
“The board has always had discretion in guiding comments from the public during meetings,” Devlin said. “The revised guidelines are designed to allow more members of the public to speak in a timely manner during the meetings.”
Wolfson said the revisions in fact limit public comment further, and the Board of Governors hears mainly from the higher levels of administration as opposed to the rest of the Rutgers community.
“We’ve been urging both the administration and the Board not to turn their backs on us — to engage with our whole community,” he said. “That’s something we’ll have to keep doing.”
