SUUVA / CWA » Articles » GOOD REASON TO GO PUBLIC-OP ED-THE DAILY PROGRESS, JANUARY 29, 2008

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GOOD REASON TO GO PUBLIC-OP ED-THE DAILY PROGRESS, JANUARY 29, 2008

Posted: Tuesday January 29, 2008

Good reason to go Public

January 29, 2008

This is part of what it means to be a public university:

Information about the university should be public.

However, the University of Virginia wants to shield even the names of some of its donors. At its request, two state legislators have agreed to sponsor a bill exempting UVa and other institutions of higher learning from part of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

UVa has a huge fundraiser database, with all kinds of information about donors and potential donors. Some of that information is quite personal.

And, yes, some of that information should stay private. A donor’s net worth, contact information, Social Security number (especially!) and other personal details need not be made public.

But the university wants even to be allowed to shield donors’ names. That’s a dangerous line that shouldn’t be crossed.

Some donors request anonymity, the university argues – and for understandable reasons.

They don’t want outsiders to know they are capable of giving large sums and so open themselves up to being hounded for donations from other organizations.

If they give artwork instead of cash, they don’t want potential thieves to suspect that they might have more artwork in their homes.

If a family member applies to the university, the donor doesn’t want the public thinking that admission was bought at the price of a “gift.”

But what about conflict of interest?

Ah, there’s the rub. What if the donation did smooth the way for admission?

How easy it would be for a wealthy donor to influence admission when anonymity prevents detection.

In the (hopefully) unlikely event that a student is admitted unworthily, then a deserving student would lose his or her place. The son or daughter of a hardworking, taxpaying Virginian could be turned away from the door.

This is part of what it means to be a public university. And remember, we’re not just talking about UVa but about any public college or university, under the proposed law.

But even the admissions issue is a small concern compared to other possible scenarios.

What if a wealthy businessman wanted to give the university a major donation in an area in which the university is doing research? There is a potential conflict of interest in such a transaction, and anonymity would conceal that conflict.

What if the university were asked to involve itself in an unsettled portion of the world, as it was once asked to help launch a school in the Persian Gulf? What if a huge donation for the project were supplied by an unnamed oil state? Would Virginians want that kind of linkage – potentially that kind of dependency?

Possibly not. But without openness and accountability, they would never know the facts and never be able to respond to the facts.

We understand the reasons UVa and other schools might want to grant anonymity – not the least of which is the desire to secure that donation.

But being a public university conveys certain responsibilities as well as certain rights. Public universities owe their chief allegiance to the public.