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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKomen's $7.5 Million Grant To Penn State Appears to Violate New Policy
Oopsie!
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/komen-foundation-gave-75-million-grant-penn-state
Komen's $7.5 Million Grant To Penn State Appears to Violate New Policy
By Adam Serwer with additional reporting by Kate Sheppard
| Thu Feb. 2, 2012 12:56 PM PST
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which recently announced that it is ending grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening because of a controversial investigation launched by an anti-abortion Republican congressman, currently funds cancer research at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center to the tune of $7.5 million. Like Planned Parenthood, Penn State is currently the subject of a federal government investigation, and like the Planned Parenthood grant, the Penn State grant appears to violate a new internal rule at Komen that bans grants to organizations that are under investigation by federal, state, or local governments. But so far, only the Planned Parenthood grants appear to have been cancelled.
An internal Komen memo written by President Elizabeth Thompson and obtained by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic states that if "an applicant or its affiliates" is under investigation "for financial or administrative improprieties by local, state or federal authorities," then "the applicant will be ineligible to receive a grant." Penn State, the Pennsylvania university that the Hershey center is affiliated with, is currently under investigation by the federal government over the sexual assault scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been indicted on multiple counts of sexual abuse of children. In 2008, the Komen foundation awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant to the Hershey center to study treatments that could reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, university officials are required to "issue a timely warning if a reported crime represents a threat to the campus community." The Department of Education announced that it was investigating Penn State over possible Clery Act violations last November, and a Penn State spokesperson told Mother Jones that the investigation is ongoing. The Komen foundation has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Komen's founder, Nancy Brinker, is a former Bush administration official who has given almost $200,000 to Republican officials over the years, and Karen Handel, Komen's top lobbyist, is a pro-life Republican who was elected secretary of state in Georgia. Komen officials have insisted that Brinker and Handel's right-leaning politics weren't a factor in the decision to cut off funding, but Goldberg reported that the new grant standards were written as a pretext for denying funds to Planned Parenthood, and that the decision was "driven" by Handel.
Brinker, appearing on MSNBC Thursday afternoon, denied the decision had anything to do with politics. "I'm troubled that it's been labeled as political. This is not a political decision," Brinker said.
RockaFowler
(7,429 posts)avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)City Lights
(25,171 posts)They better cut off Penn State lest they look like hypocrites!
I wonder what excuse they'll come up with to justify this.
sarge43
(28,940 posts)That aircraft has left the hanger.
City Lights
(25,171 posts)I should have added "again." But they just keep digging. Soon they'll be standing in a hole that so deep they won't be able to see out of it.
sarge43
(28,940 posts)Avalux
(35,015 posts)I personally know of the good work being done at Hershey and at least a couple people who are still alive from experimental treatments that have saved their lives. I'd hate to see the funding cut off.
That said, what IS the justification for continuing the grant to PSU, but not to Planned Parenthood?
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)They have damaged the goodwill, trust and brand of the organization.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Maybe now donations will be rediverted into organizations that actually support cancer research as opposed to diverting $75mm annually into 'administrative overhead'.
NotThisTime
(3,657 posts)montanacowboy
(6,078 posts)against it for denying admittance to a student who was HIV positive
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)Last edited Thu Feb 2, 2012, 06:50 PM - Edit history (1)
re Jerry Sandusky et al at Penn State
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/09/8722765-feds-investigate-if-penn-state-officials-violated-us-law
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Turbineguy
(37,281 posts)I mean, I thought these people were out there trying to cure breast cancer.
gateley
(62,683 posts)fall prey to. I'm sure initially that was their sole goal, and then they just got bigger and bigger and started tradmarking their little ribbons and sayings and races. I think ultimately their focus shifts to themselves.
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)and not for the population they are supposed to serve.
gateley
(62,683 posts)avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)rocktivity
(44,571 posts)Penn State IS under investigation, too!
rocktivity
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)providing consenting adults with the means to fuck for non-procreative purposes is not.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Avalanche ahead!
ananda
(28,831 posts)nt