Last year, the MSU Board of Trustees voted unanimously to ban open alcohol on campus.

In fact, they vote unanimously on most issues before them.

Since January 2005, only four of the more than 80 decisions made by the board had a divided vote. Some of these decisions were about tuition rates, creating a new college and regulating tailgating.

Most of the time, all eight board members agree and vote the same way on an issue — often with little discussion. At a recent board meeting, they agreed on all the agenda issues that spent MSU money in only about 24 minutes.

But the board isn't meeting for the first time on Fridays. It also holds two committee meetings on the Thursdays prior to the Friday meetings. These meetings are closed, and trustees give different justifications for their closure.

But under the Michigan Open Meetings Act, committees are considered public bodies, and the meetings of public bodies are required to be open to the public. By keeping them closed, the board is violating the spirit of the Open Meetings Act.

Trustee Melanie Foster said the board doesn't talk about the things it is voting on in the closed meetings — members just conceptualize.

We don't buy it.

But let's say, for a minute, that we did. If there is no discussion going on in the committee meetings and very little going on during the public meetings, then when is the discussion happening? Is it happening at all?

If the board can simply look at an issue during the open meeting and vote, unanimously, then no important discourse or discussion about the billions of dollars it has the authority to spend is going on. They're not weighing their options. They're not taking public comments into consideration.

So why the did we elect them? If there were no discussion, then clearly, the trustees wouldn't be doing their jobs.

More likely, discussion is happening in the closed meetings. It's happening when the public can't hear it. All we see is a unified board that rarely disagrees.

Trustee Melanie Foster said more discussion at board meetings is needed, but said board members trust each others' judgment.

Do they trust each other to the point that they agree on every issue and feel confident in making huge decisions with little discussion?

We expect more from our board — our elected officials. We expect them to carefully consider the items they are looking at, have discussion and discourse, and then vote on them.

And we expect all of this to be done out in the open, not behind closed doors.

Trustee Dorothy Gonzales said if students are concerned about the board's conduct, then they should bring the issue up at the monthly meeting.

Great. The next meeting is Feb. 10.

Mark your calendar, and make sure every board member knows students care about what they do. And where they do it.