State Supreme Court Upholds UConn’s Right to Keep Donor List Secret

February 15, 2012, 11:26 am

The University of Connecticut may continue to keep its list of donors secret, after a decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. The court unanimously upheld the university’s right not to disclose the identities of its supporters, as UConn argued that donors’ identities amounted to “trade secrets,” which are exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests. The information had been sought by a former state legislator. Public colleges have faced similar disputes over the last decade in several states, including California, Georgia, Iowa, and Kentucky.

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Has to be the jilted employment seeker, Jonothan Pelto! Give it up; no one’s buying any of you protests any more …
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An excerpt from “Rufus McCoy and Profiteers in the Ivory Tower” (A Novel by Marc DePree) seems relevant:

Politicians and business leaders aren’t about to change this exception to the open records law, because they created it, and they, too, drink heartily from the hundreds of millions of state taxpayer dollars that flow annually to all state universities.

Here’s how it works: Politicians’ and ally business-leader’s gambit is to make a donation to University Gifts and Endowments “unrestricted funds”—the “booze account”—in exchange for selling their goods and services to State University. A kickback scheme—done with a handshake. State University’s public announcement, the only part done in the open, declares the business leader the “competent low-bidder” to provide goods and services to State University. The business-leader donor gets the contract, which includes charging a premium for his goods and services. Administrators get cash from the “booze account” to do with as they please. Everybody in-the-know is happy.

Confidentiality is essential. No outsider can access donor names, if the donor chooses to be
anonymous. In the glossy University Gifts and Endowments pubic relations brochures, business-leader donors are listed as anonymous. Over 98% of the donors are listed by name—normal people are proud of their donations—2% are anonymous. They, most of the 2%, do the sweetheart deals with State University. The public relations administrators argue that
some donors would not make contributions if their names were made public.

Half-truths are the mother’s milk of administrators. Some, a very few donors, don’t want
their names made public to avoid being pestered by every charity in existence. The majority of anonymous donors are State University business-leaders. Secrecy. It’s for your own good.

Truth would only make you unhappy.

Chauncey M. DePree, Jr., DBA [BA Philosophy, MS Accounting, DBA Accounting, Ethics, and Logic], Professor, School of Accountancy, College of Business, University of Southern Mississippi