Mandated Openness in Public Higher Education: A Field Study of State Sunshine Laws and Institutional Governance

State "sunshine laws," which require citizen access to meetings and records of public higher education institutions, influence virtually every area of campus functioning. Our multistate study of stakeholder perspectives on mandated openness in higher education governance finds that, although there is nearly universal support for the principle of openness, most officials note specific problems in the application of the laws to public colleges and universities and favor legal refinements.