Exemption in disclosure law shields Penn State probe from public

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | November 30, 2011 | By Bill Schackner,

[brityank]

Exemption in disclosure law shields Penn State probe from public

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
By Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Scandals are many things, but they are not cheap.

As Penn State University hires big-name law firms and image consultants, girds for costly lawsuits and settles up with campus leaders who resigned or were fired, the public is left to wonder:

What will a decade's silence in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case ultimately cost Pennsylvania's largest public university, and by extension, its students and the taxpayers?

The question may never be answered because Penn State doesn't have to tell.

An exemption to the state's Right to Know Law that experts say is rare among comparable U.S. public universities already is being used by Penn State to deny access to records that would shed light on spending decisions the school is making amid the deepening crisis.

Among the documents that Penn State has told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette it will not release are:

[brityank]

PPG info.

[Gene Eric]

The Church!!! /s

[Tzimisce]

You voted liberal Democrat for decades Penn.

Now it’s costing you.

[ken5050]

Shows that PSU still hasn’t learned anything....especially since here is NO way that all this isn’t made public..

[GOP Poet]

Granting those schools the exemption they lobbied for when the law was last revised in 2009 "was a mistake we need to fix," Mr. DePasquale said. By way of comparison, the records deemed off limits by Penn State generally are available from any of Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities, the state's community colleges or Pennsylvania's 500 school districts, all covered by the Right to Know Law.
It entitles the public to examine institutional spending practices all the way down to presidential contracts, vendor agreements, employee compensation and spending receipts for such activities as travel, dining and entertainment.

I agree 100%. They use taxpayer dollars. They don't have no privacy. period. That also goes for Bambi and his commie crew.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Maybe it’s better to let Penn State lie and deny itself into ignominy.

[DeaconRed]

"Maybe it’s better to let Penn State lie and deny itself into ignominy."

They are no longer the Nitany Lions They are the Penn State Pedophiles.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Several states (Ohio among them) have laws stating that the salaries being paid to employees of state universities is a matter of public record.

This has generated an outcry and problems getting appropriations passed when some local newspaper spills the fact that some art history professor at Kent State is pulling down six figures.

In the true tradition of the Philly Mafia, PA pols have erected a Gorelick wall to protect their pudgy pink butts.

[Tribune7]

Happy Valley cover-up ping

[Scoutmaster]

When Penn State gave up its private status in the early 1970s it did not become a member of public Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Instead, it's a member of Pennsylvania's Commonwealth System of Higher Education, like Temple and University of Pittsburgh. Universities in the Commonwealth System of Higher Education are considered 'public' universities and receive public money, but they are under their own independent control rather than control of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Penn State controls Penn State; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not.

That's the reason the state open records laws do not apply to Penn State.

Convenient, isn't it?