Pennsylvania open records laws exempt Penn State

Despite being supported by tax dollars, Penn State University is not subject to the state’s open records laws. Penn State’s records, including police records, e-mail, phone records, calendars and memos, are closed. Poynter’s Al Tompkins writes about how that exemption played a role in surpressing information in the Jerry Sandusky case.

Tompkins quotes Sara Ganim, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage: “There is nothing that is public from Penn State,” Ganim said. “Everything is what you get from people, and there is such a degree of loyalty that prosecutors have even been thrown off by it.” Some reporters, she said, call Penn State “the Kremlin.”