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The University of California's quest for secrecy has reached a dead end, and rightly so.
A Superior Court judge had already ruled that as a public institution, UC has the obligation to reveal details of its investments in venture capital firms. On Tuesday, the California Supreme Court sealed the matter by refusing to hear UC's second appeal in the case.
It's a victory for the university's public employees, retirees and taxpayers, who have a right to know how UC manages more than $34 billion in investments on their behalf. Disclosure ensures accountability. It's what a coalition of university employees and the Mercury News argued in a suit seeking UC's investment records.
Some top notch venture capitalists have warned that they'll exclude public universities from their funds rather than subject themselves to public scrutiny. And Sequoia Capital, one the most successful VCs, has already barred UC from some investments.
That's a choice they are free to make. But VCs can't have it both ways. They can't both take public money and continue to demand secrecy.
The pool of money from public entities is immense and growing. So it's unlikely that many VCs will close their doors to it -- even as an increasing number of public pension funds and universities are opening their investment books to the public.
(See original editorial on The Mercury News's website.)