Wayne State University's Board of Governors members might not be in a full-fledged war, but they've moved well past the occasional skirmishes some boards have over contentious issues.

A month or so after board members gathered behind closed doors for their second retreat to try to figure out how to get along, all that goodwill went out the window Friday when multiple board members didn't show up for a meeting and those who did used a controversial legal move to hold the meeting anyway.

At the meeting, the remaining board members approved a contentious request that had been added at the last minute.

The dates of board meetings are set two years in advance, and board member Anil Kumar, who was elected last fall and started serving in January, had said he would be out of town and unable to attend Friday's meeting.

Medical school at heart of feud

Kumar is one of four board members who have been critical of Wayne State President Roy Wilson. Kumar, a doctor, and the three other board members helped kill a deal that would have transferred the WSU medical school's primary partnership from the Detroit Medical Center to Henry Ford Health Systems. After board members squabbled over consultant fees and Wilson's intended direction for the medical school, Henry Ford withdrew a signed letter of intent for the partnership because of the turmoil.

The medical school and the DMC have feuded for more than a decade and Wayne State, guided by Wilson, has sought to find a new partner. Wilson and his supporters have been upset with the level of funding the medical school was receiving from the DMC for research and medical education, something a DMC oversight board also has knocked the DMC for.

As part of the squabbling, University Pediatricians, a private-care doctor's practice, left its primary partnership with Wayne State and moved to Central Michigan University.

More:DMC, Wayne State fight for years with millions of dollars and care of poor at stake

More:Report raises 'serious concerns' about 'apparent decline' at DMC

Wilson has been trying to establish a new pediatric doctor's group at Wayne State and wanted to do a real estate deal to get the former Michigan Hospice building on Mack Avenue, sources said. However, Kumar, along with fellow board members Sandra Hughes O'Brien, Dana Thompson and Michael Busuito, opposed the deal.

Late last week, Wilson and board chairwoman Kim Trent added the real estate transaction to the board agenda for Friday's meeting. Already on the agenda was setting the Detroit school's tuition for the coming year.

Adding the real estate transaction to the agenda didn't sit well with those opposed to Wilson's moves around the medical school, including the new pediatrics group. In addition to opposing the Henry Ford deal, O'Brien, Thompson and Busuito blistered Wilson in March at a public board meeting, calling Wilson unfit to serve and asking him to resign.

He didn't.

'You committed to be more transparent'

The three Wilson critics saw the move to hold the meeting without Kumar as a way for the administration to push through its plans. Four board members are supportive of Wilson.

So the trio of anti-Wilson board members decided not to show up to let their fellow board members know how upset they were.

"I will not be attending the board meeting today and am requesting that we reschedule the meeting," Thompson emailed Trent on Friday morning.

"At the end of our recent board retreat in May 2019, you and Roy committed to be more transparent with the board and stated that when a major issue arose either you or he would reach out to each board member to discuss the issue prior to the board making a decision.

"In the last 48 hours, Julie Miller, the Board secretary, emailed the Board information about a major issue that requires board approval at the board meeting today. This issue has major implications on the well-being of the University.

"Neither you nor Roy contacted me about voting on this major issue and you would like the Board to vote on the issue today.

"The timing of bringing this issue to the Board for a vote coincides with Anil Kumar’s absence from the Board meeting today.

"As the May 2019 Board retreat facilitator made crystal clear at our retreat, transparency and frequent communication are key to a healthy Board/President relationship.

"Once again, this lack of sufficient notice and lack of communication from you or Roy about a major issue illustrates that Roy Wilson acts as though he does not have to report to the Board."

Finding a way to get a quorum

Havingonly half the board present didn't stop the pro-Wilson group from pushing forward. They met anyway, and turned to the school's general counsel to find a way to declare a quorum with half the board missing.

The solution? Determine Wilson was really a board member, even if he would not be able to vote, making a quorum.

Louis Lessem, the general counsel, said in a written opinion that the Michigan Constitution says the president of Wayne State — just like presidents of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University — is an ex officio member of the board and runs the board meetings.

"Wayne’s by-laws define a quorum as ‘five members of the Board’ (Article 1.3). Reflecting the State Constitution, the by-laws also state that the president is ‘to be elected by the board’ and that he is ‘an ex-officio member of the board without vote.’ (Article 2.2)," Lessem wrote.

"The by-laws appear to be straightforward as to this point — since the president is defined as a member of the board (albeit ex-officio) by the by-laws and the State Constitution, the president may be counted for purposes of determining whether a quorum of the Board is present."

Lessem also cited Robert's Rules of Order to justify counting Wilson as a board member.

With that out of the way, the board approved a tuition hike of 3.2% and passed the real estate transaction.

The Michigan Attorney General's Office has never issued an opinion on whether a president is a member of the board when it comes to counting for a quorum, said AG spokeswoman Kelly Rossman-McKinney.

It's unclear whether there could be any legal challenge to any actions taken during Friday's meeting.

As for the board and Wilson's future at the school? That's still up in the air. Wilson has a five-year contract that was passed in December 2018. He has said repeatedly he does not plan to leave Wayne State.

Thompson sent the Free Press a copy of her email Friday to Trent, but could not be reached for follow-up questions. O'Brien and Busuito also could not be reached.

"We feel we have a solid legal basis for our" actions, Trent told the Free Press on Monday morning, adding board members have the right to hold different opinions from others on the board.

"I'd like to think all of us have the best interests of the university at heart. I've certainly come to meetings where I've had disagreements over what was being presented. It's never occurred to me not to come to the meeting. As colleagues, we could have had a robust discussion about the issue."

The board is next scheduled to meet in public session in September.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj