The President’s Advisory Committee on Energy Conservation and Global Climate Change met for the first time Monday in a closed session.

The Daily sent a reporter and a photographer to cover the meeting in President Gregory Geoffroy’s office. However, they were turned away.

Geoffroy did discuss with the Daily what was covered during the meeting. He also said he told the rest of the committee to talk to the press about the content of the meeting.

Geoffroy said the advisory committee was put together to advise him and his leadership team, and not as a policy-making committee. He said he didn’t believe the group fell under the definition of a “governmental body” in Chapter 21 of the Iowa Code, which are subject to the open meetings law.

Under the section of definitions of a governmental body, one definition reads the following: “An advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, task force or other body created by statute or executive order of this state or created by an executive order of a political subdivision of this state to develop and make recommendations on public policy issues.”

Paul Tanaka, university counsel, agreed, saying that the university is a state agency.

“Political subdivision refers to local agencies generally: municipalities, school districts and the like,” he said.

In an e-mail, Tanaka sent the section in the Iowa Code defining the difference of a political subdivision and state agency.

According to Iowa Code Sec 7D.34: “State agency” means a board, department, commission or authority of or acting on behalf of the state having the power to enter into contracts with or without the approval of the executive council to acquire property in its own name or in the name of the state.

“State agency” does not mean the general assembly, the courts, the governor or a political subdivision of the state.

Tanaka also provided a letter from the Assistant Attorney General Mary Tabor that stated a political subdivision only applies to “elected local entities.”

Geoffroy said the discussions were “certainly not confidential.”

“If the [President’s advisory committee on energy conservation and global climate change] is truly nothing more than a group of people Dr. Geoffroy has asked to advise him, then he is correct in saying the council is not required to follow the open meetings law,” said Barbara Mack, attorney and associate professor of journalism and communication. “However, many organizations on campus have chosen to follow the spirit and principles of open government and I hope the council will do the same.”

Geoffroy said the meeting included introductions, the committee reviewed its objectives, charge and goals.

He also said the group put Christopher Ahoy, associate vice president of facilities planning and management, in charge of gathering data on the energy use of the university in the last five years.

The committee discussed what the group’s areas of focus should be.

Devin Hartman, member of the committee and senior in political science, said the major topics that were brought up during the committee’s discussion included behavior, research, education, new construction and the planning approach, all of which were in relation to sustainability and overall energy conservation.

Before coming to their main points, the committee brainstormed and had to cut down their initial list of ideas to a smaller, more manageable number of issues.

Hartman said roles and objectives were delegated to committee members so that research and information could be obtained on the issues at hand.