Editorial: Higher-Education Foundations Should be Transparent

The Modesto Bee's publisher and president says the funding practices of higher-education foundations should be more transparent.  The non-profit foundations are typically controlled by campus presidents and board members and are funded by donors, and they are not subject to the California Public Records Act.  

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger could have increased transparency of these higher-education foundations by enacting Senate Bill 218, but he vetoed it instead.  

Click here for more about how a loan from the Sonoma State University Academic Foundation to one of its board members will cost the school at least $250,000  and could mean reduced student scholarships and campus events for the 2010-11 school year.

Museum keeps contract for Tut exhibit under wraps

The Dallas Morning News has been denied a request for a copy of the contract between the Dallas Museum of Art and the organizers of the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit. The museum won't discuss contract terms, reveal how many people saw the exhibit or provide board meeting minutes. The newspapers cites state law that requires most nonprofit organizations to release their financial records.

Taxpayers spend untold millions to subsidize the Dallas Museum of Art. But the museum says they have no right to know what kind of deal it cut with the for-profit organizers of the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit.

The Dallas Morning News formally requested a copy of the Tut contract in January, citing a state law that requires most nonprofit organizations to make their financial records public.

Museum lawyer Gary Powell said the DMA would not comply because it promised exhibit organizers absolute confidentiality.

More here.