Half of Wayne State University's governing board has sued the other half of the board, alleging open meetings law violations in the latest chapter of what is an all-out war for control of the university's direction. They have also asked for a temporary restraining order against the school to stop it from leasing property.

The suit centers on Friday's board meeting, when half the board didn't show up in an attempt to stop the leasing of a building for a new pediatrician's physicians group. The other half of the board — those supportive of university President Roy Wilson — showed up armed with a legal opinion saying Wilson, who is an ex-officio member of the board — should be counted when trying to get to a quorum. Wilson didn't vote on any matter at Friday's meeting.

Those who were at Friday's board meeting -— and are being sued — are Bryan Barnhill, Kim Trent, Mark Gaffney and Marilyn Kelly.

Board members on both sides of the issue were unable to be reached for comment.

The board members present voted on tuition — increasing it 3.2% — and approved a sublease for the building from the University Physicians Group, an entity that is separate from Wayne State that is made up of Wayne State faculty.

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That blatantly ignored the state's open meetings law, the four board members who filed the suit — Michael Busuito, Sandra Hughes O'Brien, Anil Kumar and Dana Thompson — said in their filing in Ingham County Circuit Court.

The suit calls for the court to invalidate any decision reached during Friday's meeting.

The suit pulls no punches in laying out what it thought was happening: an end run by pro-Wilson board members.

"(Board members) have, for some time, been in disagreement on many core matters affecting the fiscal health, well-being, and future of WSU," the suit says. "Plaintiffs have questioned large and unnecessary or suspicious expenditures favored by the Defendant Board Members and Wilson. These include, among other things, millions of dollars spent by Wilson on unnecessary out-of-state consultants (who are believed to have had a prior or personal relationship with Wilson)."

The suit claims board members were first presented with a plan to purchase a building at 400 Mack Ave., in April in a session held behind closed doors. The board members suing blocked that move.

The administration then began planning to sublease a portion of building from the UPG, which would sign the lease for the building, sources told the Free Press. That was communicated to board members in late May. The financial details of the lease were received very close to Friday's board meeting, and was a late addition to the board agenda.

Kumar was planning to be gone from the meeting — the suit said he was on a family vacation planned before he joined the board in January. The suit claims the pro-Wilson faction of the board added it to the agenda with less than 36 hours’ notice, knowing the anti-building folks couldn't block it.

So the other three board members against the move didn't show up for the meeting. The school's general counsel said the state Constitution and university bylaws allowed Wilson to be counted toward a quorum.

The suit says that is wrong.

"The reason for not including WSU's president in the calculation of quorum is obvious: The president as an ex-officio member is not an elected governor, is not accountable to voters, and has no right to vote," the suit says. "The plain purpose of quorum is to ensure sufficient voting members are present, so it is nonsensical to count a non-voting, unelected ex-officio member for that purpose.

"Including the president, who is an unelected, non-voting, ex-officio member of the Board, as a member of the Board for purposes of achieving quorum violates the Michigan Constitution, the bylaws of WSU, and long-standing principles of democracy."

The suit asks for the court to invalidate all decisions made during the meeting, including the tuition hike and the lease.

Those suing also asked for a temporary restraining order, saying the board of the UPG met Tuesday night in a special session in an effort to close the real estate transaction.

"Governor O’Brien believes that the University’s administration intends to proceed with consummating this illegally-approved property acquisition during the time in which this Motion may be pending," the motion for the temporary restraining order says. "Although the Open Meetings Act allows for the invalidation of decisions made in the absence of

court approval, waiting until after the real estate transaction was consummated would potentially cost the University hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, in damages to undo that deal; damages which could not be recovered from the Defendants."

The suit is the latest battle in the war between board members — much of it centered on the medical school, Wilson and plans to move the medical school's primary partnership from the Detroit Medical Center to Henry Ford Health Systems.

The board members who sued had previously helped kill a deal that would have transferred the WSU medical school's primary partnership. 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.

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. He has a five-year deal, signed in December and has no intention of leaving. Board meetings earlier this year featured numerous speakers from the business and religious community speaking in favor of Wilson.

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