If Rep. Tim Mahoney's bill passes, all eyes will be on Penn State.

Mahoney, R-Fayette, drafted a bill in November that, if passed, would require all organizations that receive at least 25 percent of funding from tax dollars -- which includes Penn State -- to disclose information through a new office specifically dedicated to accessing public records.

That means that institutions like Penn State would be required to distribute information, such as a detailed budget, to anyone who wished to see the dollars at work, as long as there is no motive for monetary gain behind the request.

When asked about the bill, Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said he would have no problem with it, saying that Penn State already provides "hundreds and hundreds of pages of budget information."

But that's simply not enough.

The university's operating budget, some of which can be accessed on budget.psu.edu, shows that $1,312,927,000 is allocated to "Educational & General." And although this is broken up into a dozen subdivisions, that is as detailed as it gets.

For instance, almost $72 million will be spent on "Student Services" in the 2006-07 academic year. What are the subdivisions of that? And how much are we spending on these?

If the university does not have a problem with the distribution of the information, as Mahon stated, then perhaps Penn State should take action now, regardless of whether a law exists requiring them to do so.

We challenge the university to release the complete budget, one with no ambiguities for the public -- but especially the students -- to see.

What is there to hide?

USG President Nick Stathes has said that some legislators hesitate to award Penn State more money from the state because of gray areas in the budget.

If this is true, then the administration would be doing a service to itself as well as all of the students by clarifying the budget.

It's no secret that Penn State relies on state appropriations to operate. Administrators have said many times that tuition increases over the years have been the result of insufficient state appropriations.

So, Penn State, if you would have no problem producing the information after the passing of such a bill, why not do it anyway, for the financial welfare of your students who are paying exorbitant amounts of money to attend a public university?

We anxiously await your response.