Following an investigation of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, Penn State officials have now been warned that they risk losing their accreditation.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has told the school it needs to submit a report outlining steps to ensure integrity in leadership and governance. Aside from the Sandusky scandal, Nathan Benefield, director of policy analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, says there have been other complaints about Penn State's lack of accountability.
"Pennsylvania has an open records law, but Penn State has been exempted from that, because they're not fully controlled by state government," Benefield notes. "There's been a big push to make Penn State more transparent and more accountable by putting them under those same rules."
He asserts that any reforms must be real -- not just PR schemes designed to mask the problems.
"So, we think Penn State, if they want to come out of this stronger, needs to become more transparent, more open, more accountable to taxpayers and to the state government to really show that they have cleaned up their act," the policy analyst suggests.
An investigation from June found that school officials were complicit in helping cover up Sandusky's criminal behavior. He was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.
The Commonwealth Foundation is an organization that "crafts free-market policies, convinces Pennsylvanians of their benefits, and counters attacks on liberty."