AG: University of Illinois Violated Open Meetings Act’s Right To Speak –

Springfield, Ill. (ECWd) –

The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Councilor has determined that the University of Illinois Board of Trustees violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act when it denied my right to speak during public meetings.

On May 20, 2025, less than 72 hours but more than 48 hours prior to the meeting, I requested to be placed on the list to provide public comment during the May 22, 2025, U of I board of Trustees meeting. The board secretary denied my request citing the board’s (unlawful) policy of requiring requests to speak be received no later than 72 hours prior to a meeting.

I appealed the denial with the board secretary citing AG Binding Opinion 14-012 where the AG determined that the McLean County Board violated a Bob Grogan’s right to speak by requiring advanced signups to speak be received no later than 5 days prior to a meeting.

The issue with U of I was no different.

From this determination:

• For the reasons explained below, the Public Access Bureau concludes that the University of Illinois Board of Trustees (Board) violated Section 2.06(g) of OMA (5 ILCS 120/2.06(g) (West 2024)) in connection with its May 22, 2025, meeting
• Because section 2.06(g) is intended to ensure that members of the public have an opportunity to address public officials at open meetings, rules adopted under 2.06(g) are invalid when they do not reasonably “accommodate a speaker’s statutory right to address the public body, while ensuring that the public body can maintain order and decorum at public meetings.”
• public comment at the Board’s May 22, 2025, meeting consisted of three speakers addressing the Board for a total of nine minutes. Even if the two other speakers who signed up but cancelled had addressed the Board, 15 minutes of the allotted public time would still have been available under the Board’s rules. Although there may be meetings where the number of requests to address the Board exceed the 30-minute limit, rigidly enforcing a
  three-business day advance sign-up requirement regardless of the number of speakers who have submitted requests is not a reasonable restriction on public comment
• If the Board chooses to require speakers to submit requests to speak before its meetings commence, it should prioritize the public’s statutory right to address the Board over administrative convenience and refrain from
  imposing a deadline that exceeds the minimum amount of time necessary to make arrangements for an efficient meeting
• This office also recommends that the Board’s rule acknowledge the possibility of allowing the public to sign up after the deadline until enough speakers have been selected to fill the full 30-minute period that the Board allots for public comment, and to apply the rule to permit additional speakers who sign up after the deadline, when time during the meeting permits