The Oregon State Board of Higher Education wants the state legislature to change open-record laws so universities can protect the identity of donors who want to remain anonymous, the Oregonian reports.

Journalists in the region -- including a University of Oregon professor -- argue that a change would keep vital information about donors from the public.

The university's journalism professor, Jim Upshaw, testified against the change in the law, saying that it raises accountability questions of the system to the public, the newspaper reports.

"There's always a possibility that strings might be attached to a gift. Everyone has a right to know where those strings came from and what they were."

University Chancellor Joe Cox supports the change and wants to see a balance between the public's right to know and the ability to assure a donor's privacy. He told the Oregonian that if the university can't promise a donor that he or she will remain unidentified, they may not give.

Since most donations go to a university's own foundation -- which isn't affected by open-records laws -- the foundation can respect those requests for anonymity. If a foundation shares the identify of that anonymous donor with university officials, however, that information could become public record, the newspaper reports.

The proposed change is to be considered by the legislature in 2001. The legislature already approved a similar change that applies only to the Oregon Health Sciences University, a public corporation.

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