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Reporter rebuffed at crisis response meeting
By Metropolitan Staff

A reporter from The Metropolitan staff was ejected from an emergency-response planning meeting held by the Auraria Higher Education Center on May 1.

Faculty attendants at the meeting included AHEC executive vice president for administration Dean Wolf, assistant director of the Health Center at Auraria Martha Eaton, AHEC director of communications, institutional relations and equal opportunity Julie Hughes, Metro assistant dean of student life Johanna Maes, and Auraria police Chief Heather Coogan, among others.

At the meeting’s start, the attendees were unclear as to whether or not the meeting was to be open or closed.

“I think this is an internal workgroup, and I’m really uncomfortable when we’re having these kinds of conversations with the press here,” Eaton said.

The reporter was given no legal reasoning for being asked to leave.

According to Colorado’s open-meeting laws – also known as “Sunshine” laws – an open and public meeting is defined as any planned gathering convened to discuss public business between two or more public officials.

In order to close a meeting, the members must take a vote to go into executive session. Discussions that may be protected under executive session are limited to matters confidential under state and federal law, security arrangements, the purchase and sale of property, private personnel issues and attorney-client advisories.

The reporter returned with an editor and was again denied entry to the meeting.

When confronted with the legal issues regarding closing a public meeting, Wolf said that the members present at the meeting had not invoked executive session.

"I think this is privileged information,” Eaton said of the discussion.

As of press time, Wolf and Coogan were unavailable for further comment.