One of the most shameful government cover-ups in this country involves the use of non-profit foundations by public universities to hide shenanigans. Push for your legislature to require university foundations to be subject to your public records law.
That’s something California is considering since time after time foundations have been found to be slush funds for hiding embarrassing information. For example, see the 2007 Daily Bruin article about how big donors would get their kids into competitive programs through six-figure bribes. The latest flap is over a foundation’s big payment to get Sarah Palin to speak at Cal State. The universities claim that if they divulged donor information it would chill giving. On the other side, it might chill corruption.
Filed under: 3. Access law | Tagged: Education | 1 Comment »