Letter to the Editor: 11/9/12

Dear Pitt News:

In your Nov. 5 editorial, The Pitt News incorrectly stated: “As a state-related institution, Pitt is allowed relatively little direct oversight. As of now, the University … is subject to no state audits, and is only required by law to provide a few top salaries and broad revenue and expenditures through IRS form 990.

To the contrary, the University is subject to a long list of disclosure and audit requirements mandated by state law which are in addition to the disclosures required of the University under the Right-to-Know Act.

Beyond the discloures made annually by the University under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, other disclosures included an extensive financial report ecompassing budgeted and actual expenses and revenue throughout the University. The University must also disclose a list of all purchases of goods and services which exceed $1,000. These disclosure requirements, codified in Pennsylvania’s School Code, also include extensive information on faculty and staff, mean and median salaries, workload and other data.

The annual bill which authorizes Pitt’s funding also provides for yearly audits of University expenditures and costs by Pennsylvania’s Auditor General, and requires the University to submit extensive information on faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate populations, student credit hours and much more.

This is just a sampling of major disclosure items submitted by the University. There are many additional reporting requirements to both Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Education, including crime reporting, voluminous institutional data submitted to the Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System, annual submission of program and operating budgets and transfer credits, to name just a few. In addition, the University provides annual audited financial statements and other disclosures that are independent of state or federal mandated reporting.

Taken together, these disclosures provide extensive detail on how the University spends the Commonwealth’s appropriation. Unfortunately, in the discussion of the Right-to-Know Law, the media has continually focused solely on the reporting obligations of state-related universities contained within the Right-to-Know Law. As a cursory review reveals, in addition to disclosures under the Right-to-Know Law, there are extensive and revealing mandated financial and other disclosures made by the University which provide a very full and complete picture of how the University spends its Commonwealth funding.

Sincerely,

Paul A. Supowitz

Vice Chancellor for Governmental Relations