Hiring by state assisted university

Over the past few years, the adminstration of a state-assisted university has repeatedly filled non-bargaining unit, unclassified positions (in other words, adminstrative positions)without an open and competitive process. In fact, there has been no visible process and when the HR department was queried, the response was "we are in compliance with the law."

Can a state-assisted university that advertises itself as an "equal opportunity employer" fill existing or new positions with internalcandidates, giving these individuals unqualified appointments (no designation of interim or acting) without announcing the vacancy and the intent to fill it and with no documented hiring process?

Basically, the current process seems to be that the president or one of his vp's, decides they want to place someone in a position and it happens. The contract is drawn up, the president signs and viola, the position is filled.