From Jacob Latimer, Projects Editor at the WKUHeights.com:

"The Bowling Green Daily News reported in July that the [Western Kentucky University] Naming and Symbols Task Force issued NDAs [nondisclosure agreements] to its members last year, which raises the question: why is a public university committee discussing public matters signing NDAs?

"Task force members, appointed by President Timothy Caboni, made recommendations to the university on whether the names of Ogden, Potter, Van Meter and Kelly Thompson Halls should be changed due to their controversial ties to slavery and segregation.

"The recommendations for the university published by the committee stated 'it is essential that WKU educates the campus and local communities, as well as our alumni, about the names that are memorialized on our campus.'

"Non-disclosure agreements are typically used for the protection of intellectual property, trade secrets and other sensitive information within corporations, said Jon Fleischaker, Kaplan Johnson Abate & Bird attorney and one of the primary authors of the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts.

Fleischaker said NDAs have no place in a public university.

"'The public has a right to know and the students have a right to know what is going on at their university and how decisions are being made,' Fleischaker said.

"Michael Abate, Kaplan Johnson Abate & Bird attorney who represents the Herald, said that while there are valid reasons for a university to issue NDAs, like when discussing sensitive medical research or trade secrets, hiding information that should be public is in violation of the Open Meetings Act.

"'It's hard to see what could be validly kept confidential there,' Abate said. 'You can't just make someone sign an NDA and take something that is otherwise public business or public record and put it behind a wall of secrecy.'

"The Naming and Symbols Task Force is not the only example of WKU committees signing NDAs.

"Caboni created a Title IX committee in 2018 to review the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, the Title IX Office and the Office of Student Conduct after reports of a former SGA president experiencing harassment on campus.

"The Bowling Green Daily News reported in 2018 that members of the Title IX committee signed confidentiality agreements and could not disclose information on what was being discussed in their meetings.

"Former assistant attorney general Amye Bensenhaver considers the Naming and Symbols Task Force an advisory committee, which falls under the definition of a public agency under the Open Meetings Act.

"'There is a statutorily recognized right to know how public policy is being formed, how decisions are being made and what conversations are taking place,' Bensenhaver said. 'The formation of public policy is public business.'

"Bensenhaver said a public committee needs a legal basis in order to have a closed meeting.

"'Either you have a legal basis for [a closed meeting] or you don't,' Bensenhaver said. 'If you have a legal basis for it, you don't need to have an NDA to back it up. But you can't prompt an NDA without a legal basis.'

"'Bensenhaver said she doesn't understand the need for secrecy within the task force.

'It's a sensitive issue. I get it,' Bensenhaver said. 'But sensitivity is not an exception to the Open Meetings Law.'"