July 23, 2009 01:05 AM UTC

CSU releases Blake recording, pays $19,000 in legal fees to end open meetings lawsuit

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• by: BobMoore

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Colorado State University today is releasing recordings of some of its May 5 executive session in which it chose Joe Blake as the sole finalist for chancellor.

The release of the recordings is part of a settlement that will bring an end to a lawsuit filed by the Coloradoan, Pueblo Chieftain and Colorado Independent alleging the CSU Board of Governors violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law in picking Blake.

See an early version of Trevor Hughes’ Coloradoan story here:

http://tr.im/tA36

In addition to releasing the recordings, CSU also will pay the plaintiffs’ legal fees, totalling $19,000.

The media coalition brought the lawsuit a day after the May 5 meeting in which the BOG selected Blake as the sole finalist for chancellor. The coalition alleged numerous violations of the open meetings law — illegally discussing a member of the board (Blake) behind closed doors, illegally interviewing candidates without telling the public, and illegally voting in secret to pick Blake as the sole finalist.

District Judge David Schapanski reviewed the recording of the four-hour executive session and ruled in June the BOG had violated the open meetings law. He ordered CSU to make public about 90 minutes of the recording, including about 60 minutes that CSU had voluntarily released shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

CSU filed motions asking Schapanski to reconsider his decision or withhold enforcing it until further hearings could be conducted. The settlement filed today calls for the release of the recordings identified by Schapanski.

A statement from CSU spokesman Michele McKinney, and one from me, are below.

From Michele McKinney:

Today, the CSU System Board of Governors has entered into a settlement agreement with Multimedia Holdings Corporation, The Star-Journal Publishing Company and the Center for Independent Media. The board decided it is in everyone’s best interest to remove the cloud of this litigation from ongoing debate, so that the Board and the institutions’ new leaders can concentrate on moving our organizations forward.  The settlement agreement also avoids further litigation costs and does not constitute an admission of liability or evidence of any wrongdoing or omission of any kind.

As part of the agreement, the board will turn over portions of the May 5th executive session as ordered by the judge and will cover plaintiffs’ legal fees in the sum of $19,000.

If the public is interested in listening to the recording, they can contact the board office at 303-534-6290 or email csus_board@mail.colostate.edu.

From me:

We made the difficult decision to bring this lawsuit because we felt it was a necessary step to change the culture of secrecy that had grown at CSU. This settlement, and the increased transparency that we’ve begun to see at CSU, are positive signs that the culture is changing.

(For the record, the Coloradoan will post the recording when it’s provided to us later Wednesday. I suspect the Colorado Independent will do the same.)