Outstanding reporting — and use of the open records law — by EKU student journalist, Kaylen Perkins, to expose the details of the Board of Regents' meeting at which championship rings were bestowed on regents and tuition increased in a nearly single breath.

Perkins attaches the responsive records in another effective use of the law. A response to her second request — for notes, texts, and emails exchanged by the regents during the board's public meeting — has been issued by the university.

The board's actions raise several open records/meetings issues. When and how did the board vote to approve the Board of Regents Initiative Fund into which the chairman's cash donation was deposited to defray the cost of the rings? Why is the chairman communicating with university officials on a private email account? What legal basis is there for denying the newspaper (and the public) access to notes, texts and emails exchanged at a public meeting?

The list goes on.

If there is a plausible answer to these questions, that answer will likely be found in the records obtained under the open records law and the records to which The Progress was denied access — and will be forced to fight for in an open records or meeting challenge.

We are confident that The Progress will continue to ask these questions, to pursue these issues through all available legal means, and to shine a light on the actions of the EKU board of regents.