The Board of Regents approved the membership of its Transparency Task Force today during their meeting in Ames. Regents president, Craig Lang, asked for the creation of the task force to address the concerns about the release of information from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.
The task force will include state Senator Jeff Danielson, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, who has been critical of the regents in recent weeks and pushed a bill that he says would force them to be more open. Republican Peter Cownie of West Des Moines will represent the Iowa House on the comittee.
Six of the other task force members represent the three state schools, the Board of Regents and the governor’s office. Jack Lashier of Des Moines, the director of the Iowa Hall of Pride, was added as a citizen member.
The board approved a charge for the task force that says it is to “recommend best practices for responding to public information requests and to “recommend best practices for access to information of interest to Iowans.” The Transparency Task Force will hold its first meeting on April fifth in Des Moines.