If you’ve been following me on this one, I started to ask around here stateside about the finances for Temple University Japan. I don’t expect people to get back to me in a rush, but I was amazed to find out that some people connected to the Commonwealth government didn’t even know that Temple was running an operation in Japan.
My bottom line, two main questions are:
1) What is the rent?
2) Where does it show on the Temple audited financials?
What everyone is most likely going to find is that the rent is carried on the main campus books, and therefore what looks like a break even operation is actually a loser for money.
Additionally, depending how the Act 12A formula works, the taxpayers of Pennsylvania may be directly out some of that money, rather than just indirectly out that money.
When Pennsylvanians are struggling and can’t find jobs, or getting let go from them in the Temple Hospital system, does it make sense to send a check over to Tokyo every year to keep people with no connection to Pennsylvania employed in a nice boondoggle for themselves?
[Update: Don’t expect to read too much on the Temple Public Policy Updates blog. That went cold after Harrisburg (the capital) appropriated the $160 something million last spring . . . ]
Hoofin 