Public universities deal with transparency issues, too

When thinking about government transparency, people often forget that public universities fall under that umbrella. But the burden of transparency does fall on universities. And so does the inevitable confusion about what should be disclosed and what should be kept private.

University of California and California State University administrators have taken seemingly contradictory stances on two bills dealing with donor privacy. Administrators are arguing for a bill that gives them the right to continue sharing alumni contact information with credit card issuers and other corporate partners. They are at the same time opposed to a bill that would lift the anonymity of certain donors, claiming this would have a chilling effect on contributions.

Administrators say these are “Two very different issues,” akin to “Apples and oranges.” Senator Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, says it is “Blatant hypocrisy.”

Earlier this week, I wrote about the Referendum 71 case, where the Supreme Court ruled that Washington state was to make public the names of people who voted to get Referendum 71 back on the ballot. I implied that the line between matters of transparency and matters of privacy could be thin, gray, nonexistent, or incredibly confusing. In this case, however, the two ballots seem to be on opposite sides of the line.