While students prepare for midterms, the administration is preparing for court.
The University Board of Regents will confront a legal action today at 11 a.m. before circuit court Judge Melinda Morris. The board is currently under a temporary restraining order for allegedly violating state open meetings laws in its presidential search plans.
Administration attornies will seek to have the injunction removed.
The suit was brought collectively by The Ann Arbor News, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News. It argues that the University is in violation of both a permanent injunction and the state's Open Meetings Act.
University officials hope to prove their case.
"We're going to go to court and ask the judge to lift the temporary restraining order," said Walter Harrison, vice president for University relations. "We hope we will succeed in that."
Harrison would not speculate how long it will take for the lawsuit to go through court or what the University's next action will be if its request is denied.
Joan Lowenstein, an Ann Arbor attorney who specializes in media law, said today's hearing could be the start of a larger round of legal activity. Lowenstein said the plaintiffs will likely request a preliminary injunction to indefinitely halt the University's search plans.
Currently, the University faces a temporary injunction that will expire after Tuesday's hearing.
But if Morris denies the preliminary injunction, all participants will face a full-blown trial to determine whether the search will be put under a permanent injunction.
"If (Morris) grants the injunction ... then the University would be really silly to pursue it," Lowenstein said, citing the Michigan Supreme Court's 1993 decision against the board of regents for conducting the previous search in secret.
Jonathan Rowe, attorney for the newspapers, said he would not rule out the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
"We are always amenable to discuss compromise and resolution with the University," Rowe said. "I wouldn't want to speculate otherwise."
Until a legal conclusion is reached, the current presidential search has been derailed.
Regents met in a closed session yesterday to discuss legal strategy with their attorneys.
Harrison would not comment on what University attorneys intend to say in court this morning. He said some participants may be asked to testify.
"In these things, most of the action is between attornies, but there certainly is the possibility of testimony," Harrison said.
Rowe said "there's almost no way to predict" what will take place in court today.
"More than likely it will be lawyers arguing, the judge asking questions," Rowe said.
Lowenstein speculated that Morris might excuse herself from the hearing because Morris's sister, Judy Kuipers, is chancellor for the University of Wisconsin at Lacrosse, and may be on the list of 300 candidates considered for University president.
Regents and members of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee contacted for this article declined comment.
- Daily Staff Reporter Jodi S. Cohen contributed to this report.