BATON ROUGE (Louisiana Illuminator) — Members of the committee tasked with finding LSU’s next president have been asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits them from ever discussing the search.

The search committee is a public body that is subject to Louisiana’s open meetings and public records laws, which call for such deliberations to be made in a public setting and for any related documents to be available upon request.

Steven Procopio, president of the good government watchdog group Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, called for more transparency in the presidential search.

“The LSU presidency is one of Louisiana’s most important public positions, and its selection should reflect that public trust,” Procopio said. “Transparency in the search process would build confidence that more than one candidate was seriously considered.”

LSU Board Chairman Scott Ballard, who has previously touted the transparency of the committee, said the non-disclosure agreements are intended to protect the identity of potential job candidates.

Ballard cited a state court ruling in the case Capital City Press v. LSU, in which The Advocate, along with other news organizations, sued the university when it refused to provide records on the search to replace former President F. King Alexander in 2012-13.

The precedent requires the public release of documents related to candidates once they officially apply, but universities can withhold information on those who have only expressed interest. All of the state’s college and university systems must follow this ruling when conducting searches for top administrators.

But the terms of the non-disclosure agreement LSU’s current search committee members have signed go much further, according to a copy of the agreement provided to the Illuminator.

It prohibits the discussion of deliberations of the committee or release of documents relating to the search. Members are instead required to refer all questions from journalists or the public to Ballard or SSA Consultants, the consulting firm LSU hired to guide the search.

The agreement also prohibits committee members from keeping search-related documents after the process concludes. They must also maintain this secrecy in perpetuity. Members who break the terms of the agreement will lose their spot on the committee.

Requiring members of public bodies to refrain from discussing the work of that body is unusual, according to Scott Sternberg, a First Amendment attorney who often represents the news media.

“The members of that search committee have First Amendment rights … and making them sign a non-disclosure agreement is certainly a new attempt to keep a lid on people performing a public service,” Sternberg said.

LSU considers those who have responded to its presidential job posting as having only expressed interest in the job – and not applicants. Their names will be vetted by SSA Consultants, who will present a list of qualified individuals to the search committee. Its members will invite a select number of those individuals to formally apply, at which point their names will be public record.

SSA Consultants CEO Christel Slaughter said at a meeting earlier this month about 30 people have expressed interest for the LSU position, with 20 meeting the qualifications and five to nine highly qualified.

LSU spokesman Todd Woodward said non-disclosure agreements are standard operating procedure. He has not responded to the Illuminator’s request to review any non-disclosure agreements the university has used for previous leadership searches.

Mark Romero, chairman of the University of Louisiana System Board, said the UL System does not require members of its search committees to sign non-disclosure agreements. The board has conducted searches for presidents for eight of its nine universities within the past four years and did not use consultants.

Romero said he did not see the point in using non-disclosure agreements when the information would be subject to public records requests regardless.

The LSU position has been vacant since June when former President William Tate resigned after four years to accept the same position at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Vice President for Agriculture Matt Lee is serving as interim president and is expected to apply for the permanent job.

The board is expected to make a final hiring decision next month.