BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP): Indiana’s public access counselor says trustees at private colleges shouldn’t hold meetings in private when they authorize public charter schools.

Access counselor Luke Britt said in an advisory opinion issued in early April that while other meetings of a private university’s trustees aren’t required to be public, a private college is a public entity when decisions are made regarding authorizing charter schools.

Britt’s advisory opinion was issued in reference to Trine University, which can authorize charter schools. The (Bloomington) Herald-Times reports the opinion would also apply to the private Grace College, which authorized Seven Oaks Classical School to open in Monroe County.

Grace College’s board of trustees held a meeting closed to the public in January to consider authorizing the charter school, and trustees’ votes have been kept private.