With the announcement of the Board of Regents’ approval of a $19.9 million indoor athletic practice facility on campus, a few things have become apparent. One is that many campus stakeholders—including students, faculty, staff and community members—don’t quite know how these processes work, and another is that groups like the Board of Regents have large amounts of influence over the many organizations and entities that fall under them.

We each have an obligation as students to be informed about how decisions made by the administration and the Board affect campus.

There has been a lot of discussion recently on campus and on social media about how funds at Washburn are used. Whether it’s the contract the university has with Chartwells, new building projects such as the law school and indoor practice facility, or even how our faculty and staff are paid, students seem to want more transparency in the ways the university spends tuition, tax dollars and other funds that run this higher institution. While this discussion is a great one to have, it should come from a place of factual information, not opinions and hearsay.

There are many different ways to find out these facts. Attend Board meetings if you can. Schedule an appointment with President Farley or one of the university’s vice presidents. You could even talk to your student representatives in WSGA. Whatever you do, find reliable sources and get all of the facts.

If you are interested in what happens at Board of Regents meetings, go to its website, http://www.washburn.edu/about/leadership/board-regents, where their meeting schedule is posted. The website also posts meeting agendas a few days before-hand, and guidelines for addressing the Board.

Under the Kansas Open Records Act and Kansas Open Meetings Act citizens have the right to access public records and observe many meetings where decisions are made that affect our state. The Washburn Board of Regents falls under both KORA and KOMA, meaning that anyone is able to attend its meetings and view its minutes. Listed below are the meeting times for the rest of the 2017-18 academic year.