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That controversial Cal State tuition hike is on less-than-solid legal ground
Police face protesters at CSU Board of Trustees meeting, Nov. 16, 2011
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC
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California State University officials are saying the school's trustees complied with open meeting laws when they voted behind closed doors on Wednesday to increase tuition by $500, the AP reports. The hitch is that a university spokeswoman wasn't able to verify that anyone from the public or media actually witnessed the vote.
So Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is telling trustees to reschedule the vote for next month or risk "widespread confusion" over whether the controversial vote to raise tuition by 9 percent was legitimate.
Just before the trustees were scheduled to vote, protesters and police clashed, resulting in injuries, arrests and shattered glass.
The meeting got going again behind closed doors, but state law says the media "shall be allowed to attend." Reporters and television crews in a hallway weren't told the meeting had resumed, the AP reported.
Spokeswoman Claudia Keith told the AP Thursday that she didn't know how the school could verify if anyone from the media or the public attended.
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