The Edinboro University open records case
By Bill Scheckner and Eleanor Chute
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On the day it announced the largest gift in its history, Edinboro University told the Post-Gazette that the gift from Joseph T. Buba and Eleonora C. Navari Buba went to the Edinboro University Foundation, which does not release its donor records and thus the amount would not be made public.
It stuck to that argument:
The Post-Gazette pursued the case, seeking details of the Buba gift through the state Open Records Office -- losing its first attempt and winning its second last year by asking for the amount of the "largest gift" in the university's history without naming the donor.
The university appealed, but when faced with signing an affidavit stating that no university records could be found, Edinboro in August turned over a university document it said "was not previously known."
That document was the only one Edinboro released consistent with Edinboro's description of the Buba gift, but donor names were redacted. Although the university never directly acknowledged that it was the Buba gift, a portion of Mrs. Buba's name was incompletely covered in the redacted document, making it possible to identify the name.
Although Mr. Whitehair had signed the document, Edinboro spokeswoman Amy Neil quoted Mr. Whitehair as saying the money was given to the foundation in a Dec. 10, 2009, e-mail responding to the Post-Gazette information request.
Last week Ms. Neil explained that discrepancy by writing, "The December 2009 e-mail reflected the Right to Know office understanding at that time. Subsequent review of documents indicated that the gift was a university gift, and all materials were released as requested."
Because it believed the document should have been released months earlier, the Post-Gazette sought sanctions against Edinboro in Commonwealth Court. Days before sworn depositions were to be taken in January, Edinboro offered to settle the case.
On Feb. 11, it released foundation documents, none of which showed gifts large enough to be the Buba gift. It also paid the Post-Gazette a voluntary civil penalty of $1,500 -- the maximum provided by law -- and $18,500 in legal fees.
In doing so, Edinboro noted it was not admitting to acting in bad faith, nor was it admitting that the foundation is a public agency or that its records are public. It did acknowledge last week that the 2009 gift from the Bubas was, in fact, made to the university.
"The university admits to making a mistake and subsequently has established a new process for handling Right to Know requests to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future," Ms. Neil said.
"I don't know if Edinboro thought we were just going to go away after it refused to give us information we felt it was legally bound to provide, but that's not the way we work," said Post-Gazette Managing Editor Susan Smith. "We believe that the public has a right to know how much money is being spent at a public institution, and we pursued this case diligently and aggressively with that belief in mind. We're happy with the outcome. The process to get there, though, was both troubling and unnecessary, to say the least."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On the day it announced the largest gift in its history, Edinboro University told the Post-Gazette that the gift from Joseph T. Buba and Eleonora C. Navari Buba went to the Edinboro University Foundation, which does not release its donor records and thus the amount would not be made public.
It stuck to that argument:
- Even though the university's Dec. 10, 2009, news release described it as a "multimillion dollar estate gift" to the university;
- Even though a university trustees resolution two months earlier said the gift was made to the university;
- Even though the agreement Edinboro eventually released was a university document signed Oct. 22, 2009, by university president Jeremy Brown and Oct. 28, 2009, by vice president for university advancement Bruce Whitehair.
The Post-Gazette pursued the case, seeking details of the Buba gift through the state Open Records Office -- losing its first attempt and winning its second last year by asking for the amount of the "largest gift" in the university's history without naming the donor.
The university appealed, but when faced with signing an affidavit stating that no university records could be found, Edinboro in August turned over a university document it said "was not previously known."
That document was the only one Edinboro released consistent with Edinboro's description of the Buba gift, but donor names were redacted. Although the university never directly acknowledged that it was the Buba gift, a portion of Mrs. Buba's name was incompletely covered in the redacted document, making it possible to identify the name.
Although Mr. Whitehair had signed the document, Edinboro spokeswoman Amy Neil quoted Mr. Whitehair as saying the money was given to the foundation in a Dec. 10, 2009, e-mail responding to the Post-Gazette information request.
Last week Ms. Neil explained that discrepancy by writing, "The December 2009 e-mail reflected the Right to Know office understanding at that time. Subsequent review of documents indicated that the gift was a university gift, and all materials were released as requested."
Because it believed the document should have been released months earlier, the Post-Gazette sought sanctions against Edinboro in Commonwealth Court. Days before sworn depositions were to be taken in January, Edinboro offered to settle the case.
On Feb. 11, it released foundation documents, none of which showed gifts large enough to be the Buba gift. It also paid the Post-Gazette a voluntary civil penalty of $1,500 -- the maximum provided by law -- and $18,500 in legal fees.
In doing so, Edinboro noted it was not admitting to acting in bad faith, nor was it admitting that the foundation is a public agency or that its records are public. It did acknowledge last week that the 2009 gift from the Bubas was, in fact, made to the university.
"The university admits to making a mistake and subsequently has established a new process for handling Right to Know requests to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future," Ms. Neil said.
"I don't know if Edinboro thought we were just going to go away after it refused to give us information we felt it was legally bound to provide, but that's not the way we work," said Post-Gazette Managing Editor Susan Smith. "We believe that the public has a right to know how much money is being spent at a public institution, and we pursued this case diligently and aggressively with that belief in mind. We're happy with the outcome. The process to get there, though, was both troubling and unnecessary, to say the least."