Friday's decision to extend MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon's contract by three years was another unanimous one by the MSU Board of Trustees, but the unanimity was really no surprise — the board's meetings are just public relations junkets with little discussion and no dissent.

It's not that Simon isn't a satisfactory president or that she's being paid too much; our quandary is not with her. The trustees' reluctance and flat-out evasiveness when it comes to holding open meetings is the problem.

Their decisions affect every student at MSU, and we all deserve to hear their thoughts in detail about the issues they discuss — especially extending our president's contract for three more years.

As Chairman David Porteous said, "The most significant responsibility the board has is in the hiring and evaluating of the president."

He said it himself — the board's most important responsibility is not only the hiring, but the "evaluating of the president," as well. And officially, they are not even doing that.

True to form, the board issued a news release just moments after the decision. Public relations types, like MSU spokeswoman Deb Hammacher, excused the lack of discussion and immediate issuing of a news release.

"This was prepared in the event that there was a unanimous decision," she said.

A decision that isn't unanimous from this board, though, would be an anomaly.

It could be these "significant" decisions are made behind closed doors during the board's Thursday night dinners at Cowles House, as Trustee Dorothy Gonzales stated last spring.

"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 in March. Trustee Dee Cook played down the $800 dinners — "We talk very informally," she said.

Cook's answer brings up a conundrum: Are the board's "informal" dinners with "informal" discussion actually a way to sidestep the Michigan Open Meetings Act, which requires all meetings of publicly elected bodies be open and accessible? We suspect so, especially with the unanimous vote for Simon's three-year, $425,000-a-year contract extension at the Friday meeting.

If the board isn't discussing the issue at the Thursday dinner, then there's a problem larger than violating the Open Meetings Act — they're allocating money without talking about it. And frankly, that sounds a lot like incompetence.

Students should note both Porteous and Cook are up for re-election this year, and no matter what party you support, there are enough adequate candidates to replace them and bring some transparency to the board.

At least Green Party candidate and MSU student Lauren Spencer has said she supports open meetings and, therefore, the law.