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[Note: This material is copyright by The Gazette, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of The Gazette.]

  Regents President Michael Gartner said the new e-mail file can make the board more transparent about its business while still being able to conduct discussion via e-mail, which he said is important between meetings.

  ‘‘The basic issue is this: When we communicate by email, are we less transparent than we could be and should be as a state agency?’’ he wrote in the file’s first post. ‘‘That’s a legitimate issue.’’

  Gartner said he believes the public postings will relieve the regents of ‘‘ the timeconsuming chores we’ve all dealt with recently in replying to scores of open- records requests.’’ Several news media outlets, including The Gazette, have requested regents’ messages in recent months after the regents discussed the University of Iowa’s presidential search over e-mail.

  UI Faculty Senate President Sheldon Kurtz — a critic of the e-mail discussions between regents, most notably regarding the search — said Friday he thinks the new policy is a good start. His concern is that people still will miss out on initial e-mail messages, perhaps between two or three regents, that begin deliberations on a policy or idea.

  ‘‘I worry very much that the e-mail process will undercut the deliberative process that we want boards of regents to exercise,’’ Kurtz said. The new e-mail file will contain e-mail messages sent by one regent to at least four others, or by the board office to at least five regents.

  Gartner told The Gazette he hopes the regents voluntarily will post messages sent among fewer than five regents as well. He chose five regents as the threshold for automatic posting because that constitutes a quorum of the nine-member board for a public meeting.

  ‘‘My thought was, ‘Let’s just make it all public,’ ’’ Gartner said. ‘‘It struck me as a way of trying to be more open with the public but still finding a way the regents can communicate.’’

  Gartner said he does not e-mail individual members to make board decisions. He said it’s up to other board members if they want to have individual e-mail discussions. ‘‘If they call each other on the telephone, nobody says that ought to be a part of the public file,’’ he said. ‘‘I wanted to adhere to the same rules that would take place if it was a public meeting."