The members of the MSU Board of Trustees should chew their food and bite their tongues — or start inviting the public to their $800 dinners.

Board members often meet at Cowles House the night before their monthly public meeting to enjoy an expensive dinner and drinks. A social gathering for board members to eat and chat seems innocent enough.

But a closer look at these "dinners" should be brought to the table.

In the past, we were told by board members the dinners were simply for socializing, but Trustee Dorothy Gonzales has said that isn't the case.

"People have the misconception these are just dinners and eating, but it is also a chance to discuss the various issues we have before us," she said.

Other trustees deny that the dinners are anything but informal discussion without a physical agenda.

But according to the Open Meetings Act, having an agenda isn't what's needed for something to be considered a meeting. The act only requires a quorum to be gathered "for the purpose of deliberating toward or rendering a decision on a public policy."

So if they are having these discussions, they're violating the Open Meetings Act.

And according to Gonzales, it appears that is just what board members are doing. Discussing issues that might be relevant to board decisions is exactly what an official meeting of the trustees should be. That means the public should be allowed to come.

The problem is, we're not.

Michigan's Open Meetings Act states that all meetings of publicly elected bodies — where there is any discussion on relevant issues that could possibly lead to a decision, even if there is no vote — are required to be open and accessible to the public.

Deliberating behind closed doors is only allowed in very specific and rare cases under the Open Meetings Act. For example, if the board is in the process of searching for and selecting a president, reviewing an application or interviewing a candidate can be done in a closed session.

In the past, The State News has made requests to attend the board's dinners, which have been denied.

A public body, such as the elected MSU Board of Trustees, should abide by the rules of the Open Meetings Act because the public has the right to see firsthand what conclusions the board comes to.

And not just the final decisions, but also to hear the discussion and reasoning behind those decisions.

The MSU Board of Trustees needs to either keep conversations at such dinners to personal issues or start opening the Cowles House doors to the public.

If the trustees want to keep having university-related discussions over their monthly stuffed chicken dinners, we're all for it.

Now where's our invitation?