Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Editor’s word: Nov. 13, 2013

We don’t play politics here at The Journal. We never support one side over another when reporting on a topic. This week’s cover story about the Koch brothers donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Suffolk is not meant to promote the views of alumna Kalin Jordan or Beacon Hill Institute Director David Tuerck.

But the story does bring to light a separate issue for students to take note of.

The administration and BHI were very open to requests from The Journal about disclosing how much funding they received and what they spent it on. As journalists, the idea that the university will answer tough questions when asked by student media is a great sign that shows Suffolk University’s commitment to free press. In addition, many members of the editorial staff have had little problem contacting university high-ups for stories over the years.

But Suffolk does not publicly list anywhere what organizations donate to the school, how much they donate, and what the university spends the money on. Giving access to this information to media is honorable, but what about the rest of the student body, alumni, and faculty who are not a part of the press? Why don’t they have access to information about their school? It shouldn’t be a scavenger hunt through the Internet for those looking for these disclosures.

Information on what money the university receives is only publicly available to those willing to scour through independent databases on the Internet and able to decipher years of 990 tax forms filed by non-profit organizations. If someone wanted to know all the organizations that donate to Suffolk, they would have to guess which organizations’ information to search for and then hope they thought of everyone.

Suffolk is indeed a private institution and due to this, it doesn’t have certain obligations that state schools have when it comes to disclosing funding. Still, what is the point of being secretive about this information? If the administration and faculty want to be transparent when speaking with journalists about money they have received, why would they not want to publish the information for the general public to look up?

We would like to see Suffolk publish a report of who donates to the school and what the outside funding buys for our education. This request seems in line with the university’s new strategic plan and President James McCarthy’s efforts to be more transparent.

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Editor’s word: Nov. 13, 2013