Editorial: Open The University's Books

Yet, as the law currently stands, the accounting records of schools in Pennsylvania that receive significant amounts of state funding, such as the University, are not open for public inspection. Happily, the state Senate Education Committee is looking into changing the law to make such records public. An argument can be made that making such information public will put schools at a disadvantage when bargaining with their unions and individual faculty members. But as long as schools are willing to accept millions of dollars from the state, they should be willing to let the state and anyone else concerned (for instance, their campus newspapers) take a peek at their books. But the University seems to want to have things both ways. When the state threatened to cut $18.6 million from the University's allocation this year, the administration reacted by calling the proposal a fatal blow to the University's fiscal health. The administration went so far as to threaten to end need-blind admissions, cut 300 faculty and staff positions and take other draconian measures. But just yesterday, Senior Vice President Marna Whittington was in Harrisburg testifying that since the University receives such a small percentage of its funding from the state, its books should stay closed. Maybe the University was just crying wolf earlier this spring when the state threatened to take away the dough. Certainly, the University's opposition to opening its books will not help its case when the budget comes up next year.

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