Penn State officials are still waiting to hear whether a court appeal regarding the release of Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno's and other top administrators' salaries will be heard by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In a court opinion released Aug. 12, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled 3-2 that the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) had correctly decided that a newspaper reporter could seek salary information for Paterno and three other senior university officials.
Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said the university was disappointed in the court's decision, but would continue to fight against the release of the information through SERS in the appeals process.
In comments to the media after the court decision was released, Paterno said he would defer to the university concerning the release of his salary, but he would not care if the information were released.
"I know what other people are making and I know what I am making," Paterno said. "There are no secrets. What I am making may be a secret. I think the university will do what they think is best for the university."
As part of its defense, the university stated that Paterno's salary is not paid by state taxes because the athletic department pays for itself.
Several other university employees, including those working for athletics and housing, do not receive money from the state as part of their salaries. The university has also said that by publicizing the salaries of its employees, other colleges and universities might try to lure employees away with higher salaries.
Jan Murphy of the Harrisburg Patriot-News requested the salaries of Paterno, Penn State Budget Officer Richard Althouse, Penn State Vice President and Provost Rodney Erickson and Penn State Senior Vice President of Finance Gary Schultz in December 2002 through Pennsylvania's Right to Know Act.
A secretary in Erickson's office said senior administrators were on a retreat and unavailable for comment yesterday.
However, the university filed a suit against the request in Commonwealth Court, which was argued May 4, 2005.
Officials at the State Supreme Court office in Harrisburg said the appeal could not be found in their system as of yesterday, but they said it was possible the appeal had been filed and not yet entered into the court's files.
Penn State has until Sept. 12 to file an appeal for the case.
"We still maintain the belief that individual employee salaries are protected by the common law right to privacy," Kendig said.
Patriot-News Executive Editor David Newhouse said that because the individuals in question are taking part in SERS, their salaries should be public information. Because Penn State is not a state agency, it is not subjected to the Right to Know Act. However, because Paterno, Althouse, Erickson and Schultz are members of SERS, they must be considered as state employees for the purpose of this case.
All Penn State employees choose between retirement plans with SERS and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund shortly after they are hired by Penn State. Kendig said that even if the courts favor SERS in an appeal, he does not believe that Penn State will change its policies concerning the release of faculty salaries.
However, he said he would not speculate on the issue.
Currently, the university will only release average salaries of faculty and staff in various university departments.
Temple University, which is also considered a state-related university, will report the salaries of its top five administrators in IRS filings. The University of Pittsburgh and Lincoln University did not return phone calls by deadline yesterday regarding their faculty salary policies.
--Collegian staff writer Justin Kunkel contributed to this report
