The latest transparency hearing required by the Board of Regents went unattended Thursday. The meetings serve as an opportunity for the public to give comment on the upcoming agenda.

A transparency task force conducted a review from April to August 2013. The task force recommended the board hold these meetings on every regent campus prior to each meeting. The agenda must also be released before each transparency hearing.

Since the first transparency hearing in October 2013, Iowa State has had seven total public commenters, five of whom were from the first hearing in October 2013 regarding the tuition freeze for resident students. 

The remaining two were from two separate meetings: Jan. 30, 2014 and Jan. 30 of this year, according to video recordings of each transparency hearing on the regents website.

The University of Northern Iowa has had 10 commenters, mostly non-student and the University of Iowa has seen 11.

The latest ISU open hearing on Thursday in the Memorial Union remained unattended for the entire hour the university’s transparency officer, Shirley Knipfel, who is also assistant to President Steven Leath, is required to stay with a sign-in sheet and wait for anyone who wants to speak.

The March Board of Regents meeting will be Wednesday at the Main Lounge of the University of Iowa Memorial Union. The full regents agenda can be found at regents.iowa.gov.