Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Elon University has chosen to do their part in educating the public on the matters pertaining to Sunshine Week.

The School of Communications has recently established the Sunshine Center of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, and is sponsoring a Sunshine Day in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Open Government Coalition is a leadership group including many of the states top news executives, librarians and lawyers, who met for the first time on March 22, 2006.

The goals of the coalition are to find ways to support the publics access to the government and to work to maintain the free flow of information within the state of North Carolina.

The North Carolina Open Government Coalition is especially concerned with educating the younger members of society.

A recent Elon poll revealed a mere 26 percent awareness of Sunshine laws in the state; the hope of the coalition is to create educational materials to increase that percentage.

A class on open government education is developing a DVD to be used with high school students, as just one of several educational outreaches.

Elon University is the ideal location for the coalition, because it embraces the same ideas of open government that are necessary for citizenry and democracy to work.

The mission of the open government coalition, to educate the public about open governance, is consistent with Elon and the School of Communications goals, Dr. Connie Book, director of the program said.

Book also emphasizes the importance of informed citizenry.

In order for democracy to work, we have to have informed people voting. If we dont, the laws will be set by stakeholders and lobbyists who may or may not have whats best for all citizens on their front burner, Book said.

Elon University will be sponsoring events on campus on Sunshine Day, which is today.

National Sunshine Week began on March 11 and ends tomorrow.