No Mercy
One of the easily overlooked items amongst the voluminous improprieties and violations of law cited in the letter from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges to New College president Martin Hamilton on July 5, is the prevalent practice of "favoritism and cronyism" by members of the board of trustees. While nepotism might be fine in a family-owned business, to find trustees' children, wives, or other relatives employed by or receiving special financial awards from the president in an institution of higher learning -- funded by state and federal taxes -- has got to raise some eyebrows.
Indeed, if one is looking for a key to unlock the mystery of how a small clique was able to obtain control of this student loan and grant machine for their own devious purposes, one would be remiss to ignore the Third World dictator aspect of the current New College administration. The fact they have repeatedly used this consolidated power to prey on the underprivileged communities they claim to be serving, is possibly one of the most unconscionable acts ever exposed in academia.
These scoundrels may not end up going to jail for this breach of trust, but neither do they deserve our mercy.
Indeed, if one is looking for a key to unlock the mystery of how a small clique was able to obtain control of this student loan and grant machine for their own devious purposes, one would be remiss to ignore the Third World dictator aspect of the current New College administration. The fact they have repeatedly used this consolidated power to prey on the underprivileged communities they claim to be serving, is possibly one of the most unconscionable acts ever exposed in academia.
These scoundrels may not end up going to jail for this breach of trust, but neither do they deserve our mercy.
posted by Jay Taber at 11:59 AM
4 Comments:
this really puts the situation in dramatic perspective. The current administration at New College should resign immediately and not be allowed to appoint their successors.
I hope some one or some agency looks into this!
I'll raise you one: they should not only resign; they should be forced to make restitution out of their own (in some cases) very deep pockets. People have been harmed, and legal remedies are readily available.
Should the Federal Government agency which overseas student loans start an investigation, the
criminal penalties accruing to the
President and the Board of Trustees would be well deserved. The two recent presidents have assets from past practices that should be taken. The betrayal of the students is unforgiveable. The faculty has starved for years to enrich these two men.
Regardless if they or any other trustees personally profited off the school--legally or otherwise--the harms caused by their breach of trust have caused considerable despair and destitution. In addition to restoring these injured students, faculty, and alumni, the trustees as a whole should be required to make restitution to the institution itself, in the form of endowments to make things whole again. Restorative justice.
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