Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco has asked the administration of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to keep wealthy donors from influencing curriculum. The request came after the Harris Ranch Beef Company threatened to withhold a half million dollar contribution unless the university scuttled a certain guest lecture. -DB
January 19, 2010
SACRAMENTO – Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) is calling on the administration of California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo to not allow wealthy donors to influence curriculum.
In October, the university eliminated a guest lecture at the request of executives from the Harris Ranch Beef Company, who threatened to withhold $500,000 in support for a new campus meat-processing center. Emails recently obtained by the San Luis Obispo Tribune found that Harris Ranch may have also forced the resignation of a faculty member who taught a course on sustainable farming. Harris officials are now requesting a meeting with Cal Poly administrators to determine whether or not they will continue with their donation.
“Cal Poly should be catering to the students, not to big donors,” said Yee. “Harris Ranch, or any donor, has no business trying to influence curriculum or infringing on academic freedom. The curriculum at our public universities should not be open to the highest bidder.”
Because donations are often made to campus auxiliary organizations created to benefit the public campus, information regarding such donations is exempt from the California Public Records Act.
“These recent events beg the question, when else has Harris and other big donors influenced curriculum choices at Cal Poly,” said Yee. “The university should publicly disclose all such attempts, as well as all written correspondence between university officials and donors.”
Yee is currently pursuing legislation, SB 330, to require campus auxiliary organizations to be subject to the California Public Records Act, so the public can determine for themselves if any improper influence is at play at UC, CSU, and community college campuses. Requests for information on how much Harris Ranch has given Cal Poly were rejected, thereby denying the public a proper accounting of the influence donations have made on the school’s official actions.
“This is precisely the reason why we have strong campaign finance disclosure laws,” said Yee. “When elected officials make decisions that impact Californians, the public deserves to know any information that could influence them. In these two cases involving Harris Ranch, there is little doubt that their influence resulted in official actions by CSU officials, yet there is no transparency of the factors into that decision. This practice will change after SB 330 is signed into law.”
SB 330 will be considered by the full Senate next week. Last year, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Los Angeles) vetoed similar legislation.