Penn State and UD Have Something in Common-And It’s Not Good
Practically every angle of the almost incomprehensible scandal at Penn State has been covered ad infinitum.
I have yet to hear anything at all, however, about the degree to which the Board of Trustees knew, didn’t know, acted, or didn’t act, to address this scandal. At least not until this week.
It is inconceivable that the Board was not aware of the strong possibility that this scandal could well explode. In fact, back in April, this article by Mark Madden spelled out much of what was to come to pass. So, the Board at least knew then. No doubt they knew earlier about the impaneling of the grand jury. I find it hard to envision that members of the board, many of whom were/are close to the football program, did not know the particulars of Sandusky’s ‘retirement’.
Yet we have no record of what the BOT did about this, or indeed whether they deliberated at all. Why? Because Penn State is not officially a state institution per se, but a “state-related institution. As such, it now belongs to the Commonwealth System of Higher Education, and is not part of the fully public Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.”
Among other things, this means that, in addition to the university collecting millions upon millions of dollars from the State of Pennsylvania, the Board of Trustees is not obligated, nor do they, make any proceedings/minutes of Board meetings public. That includes to state officials. I wonder if the Board is going to battle FOIA demands from the Feds once that investigation is under way. It wouldn’t surprise me if it does.
Which brings us to the University of Delaware and, for that matter, Delaware State University. Just like Penn State, UD and DSU keep these board meetings totally in-house. Neither the public nor public officials are deemed worthy of knowing what is going on at these institutions that gorge themselves of public funds. That is wrong, has been wrong, and should be corrected by legislative action.
Any attorney could write the bill: ‘Any institution of higher learning receiving state funding from the State of Delaware shall make records of all Board of Trustees proceedings available to the public. Any disbursement of state funds to these institutions shall be contingent upon the making public of said records.” That’s a start but, hey, I’m not an attorney.
The fact is that we don’t know what is going on at these institutions. At least not until our intrepid State Auditor decides not to pursue some miscreant or other. Much that goes on is kept secret from the public within the respective Boards of Trustees. Just like much that was going on was kept from the public by the Penn State Board of Trustees. It is possible, maybe even likely, that the Penn State BOT withheld information and may well have placed children at risk as a result.
It is time to end this public/private charade. I call on the Delaware General Assembly and the Governor to let the disinfectant of sunshine into the proceedings of these institutions that claim that they are public when they back their armored trucks up to Leg Hall every June 30, but maintain that they are private entities when it comes to making any of their proceedings, including how they spend those public dollars, public.
Tags: University of Delaware; Delaware State University; Steve Tanzer; El Somnambulo;
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/
Everyone should read this, unrelated to the current scandal, but a great expose about how schools/NCAA have been exploiting students themselves for decades and millions of dollars.
Wow. As usual, ElSom, you’ve identified the policy extensions of this. Never occurred to me.
oops, i meant this to go on the Paterno thread. can someone move?
It’s also time to end UD’s general FOIA exemption.
Yep.
Older women who date younger men are called cougars. Older men who date younger men are called Nittany Lions.
BTW, I reallyreallyreally hope that ongoing rumors of what Sandusky was up to prove to be false. If true, this unholy alliance between the Second Mile and Penn State may well sink Penn State. And it will be on merit. We’ve already learned of some of the horrifying sickness perpetrated by this horrible indvidual. But these rumors, if true, would take it up exponentially.
Every bit as sickening as what went on in the Catholic Church with the same coverups and lack of institutional control.
El Som: Are you referring to the rumors of the stories about to come out tomorrow?
whatchoo talkin bout som?
http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/11/10/2551780/jerry-sandusky-rumors-penn-state-scandal
I think this is the rumor.
Christ. looks like Law and Order SVU found their season finale.
Please look at HB 126. Rep. J.J. Johnson and I will be looking for a committee hearing and floor consideration in January on this bill.
John Kowalko
Yeah, Geek, that’s the one. I sure hope that the terms ‘pimping’ and ‘wealthy donors’ prove not to be elements of this story, but they very well could be.
BTW, here’s the bill Rep. Kowalko references:
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+126?Opendocument
The time is right to press for its passage.
“looks like Law and Order SVU found their season finale.”
Except what school in NYC could they pretend had a major football program?
ba-zing.
If Penn State students are rioting now, wait until they graduate and find out there aren’t any jobs.
Thank you John Kowlako and my Rep. Johnson. U of D should not be enjoy any exception particularly since the institution gobbles huge wads of taxpayer dollars.
ES–I think you are about 95% right regarding PA and DE in these cases. Board minutes and board proceedings are public record and you can FOIA them. I get copies of all those automatically as faculty union president at DSU.
What I don’t get, and can’t get, are the minutes and meeting records of the Board subcommittees, which are outside the law (only in DE and PA by the way!) and not subject to a FOIA request.
What both UD and DSU board do then, is this: they conduct all their substantive work in the subcommittees (including the “Executive Committee” that has full authority to do almost anything the board itself can do); subcommittee heads issue only verbal reports at open Board meetings, which included redacted versions of their decisions, and they vote on those. Often the actual item they are voting on never makes it into the agenda or Board minutes.
Common Cause has challenged this at DSU several times, to no avail. Given the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars these institutions get, this is unacceptable. But given the number of UD alums and supporters (DSU not really a factor here) in the General Assembly, no changes are ever going to pass.
In regards to UD, how large is the AFSME employee number there? One would think a FOIA request would be a given for that alone.
The faculty union at UD and DSU is AAUP not AFSCME. AFSCME controls classified employees only at each institution. I don’t know numbers at UD but it is about 25% of total workforce.
Both AFSCME’s at UD and DSU have filed unfair labor practice complaints with the State during the last two years, and both hearings are pending. But the universities are quite adept at stonewalling, and in this particular case (FOIA) the State law is clearly on their side.
I just read the grand jury indictment and I’m sick to my stomach. And the graduate assistant (now coach) needs to be fired, too.
I kinda feel that I need to stop reading about this story, it makes me so sick and angry. So many people failed those kids. The question left is how far does it go? How far into the NCAA? How far into the prosecutor’s office and the police?
finally seeing pictures of the grad student/coach just made me angrier. That could could have FLATTENED Sandusky at that moment, how did he not stop that?
UI, the NCAA really can’t do anything here. Their job is to administer athletics. This case has nothing to do with intercollegiate athletics. Had this anything to do with recruiting violations, improper benefits, athlete eligibility, etc., then the NCAA or the Big 10 would get involved.
Anyone thinking the Big 10 would step in and postpone or cancel this weekend’s game, well, that’s just not reality. You can’t just make up the revenue produced by 107,000 fannies in the seats and by ABC/ESPN. So if you have to hold your nose when you flip past the game this weekend, that’s OK with the Big 10.
The PSU tragedy has more in common with the Bradley case than with UD or DSU.
Clark Kerr: “The chancellor’s job has come to be defined as providing parking for the faculty, sex for the students, and athletics for the alumni.”
Parking.
“UI, the NCAA really can’t do anything here. Their job is to administer athletics. This case has nothing to do with intercollegiate athletics.”
NCAA has broad relevance here and there is plenty it can do. The NCAA manual has a whole chapter on the institution’s responsibility for the ethical conduct of its participants. At this point it seems like the Penn State trustees are stepping up, but if they fail then NCAA should definitely take action.
At this time the NCAA should be taking steps to find out if this business has spread into other organizations, and to put crystal-clear reporting requirements into place. And take a close look at any program involving minors.
It never ends for the Catholic Church – http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/former-priest-put-on-probation-for-fondling-two-georgetown-prep-students/2011/11/10/gIQAHYkz9M_story.html
Great Op-Ed piece in WaPo – http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-joe-paterno-taught-me-its-time-to-stop-keeping-secrets/2011/11/11/gIQAXiVoDN_story.html?hpid=z2