WEST LAFAYETTE – When Purdue University trustees last week unfurled the first details about how it planned to acquire Kaplan University, a for-profit leader in online education, and convert it into a new branch of the land-grant university, timing wasn’t coincidental.
That same Thursday, Gov. Eric Holcomb was scheduled to sign House Bill 1001, the state’s next two-year budget, into law. Tucked 170 pages deep in a 188-page budget, language quietly ushered in during the closing days of the General Assembly session gave Purdue clearance to take on Kaplan after five months of top-secret negotiations.
That morning, Purdue President Mitch Daniels declared that Kaplan “is now a public university.”
But in legislation Purdue helped craft and put into hands of legislators, the “New U” is exempt from Indiana open door laws, access to public records laws and accounting for public funds codes – each on the books to offer basic public scrutiny that governs the state’s governmental bodies and universities, including Purdue.
“I wasn’t aware of it and haven’t seen anything like it for other state agencies or even quasi-state agencies,” said Luke Britt, who as Indiana’s public access counselor helps arbitrate what is and isn’t covered by open door and open records laws.
“I’d need to look at it more, honestly,” Britt said. “At first appearances, it looks like they have an out from public access.”
QUESTIONS BEGIN:Purdue campus starts to sort out Kaplan University deal
Steve Schultz, Purdue’s legal counsel, said the exemptions were put into the bill intentionally to be clear that the new online university will be a different animal that Purdue and its regional campuses.