Start with this account of Shirley Willihnganz’s catastrophic tenure as provost at one of America’s most sordid universities, the University of Louisville.
Then read of the great reward she reaped:
Late last year, tax filings for 2012 revealed that the nonprofit [University of Louisville Foundation] had awarded University President James Ramsey $2.4 million in deferred compensation, along with $1.8 million for the school’s outgoing provost and $1.3 million to Ramsey’s chief of staff. These payments dwarfed the administrators’ reported salaries by up to 4,000%. Provost Shirley Willinhnganz, for example, earned $45,646 in base wages from the foundation in 2012 — a package that climbed to $1,925,108 when the deferred compensation was accounted for.
Now see this here foundation of ours, which manages the school’s big ol’ endowment, operated perfectly well – perfectly well – for years. That is, until some fucking newspaper started getting nosy.
The foundation operated in secret until 2008, when the Kentucky Supreme Court [ruled] that its records are public after a legal battle with [a] newspaper.
But that ain’t bad enough. Oh no. Now some U of L trustees up and wrote a letter to the state auditor asking him to audit us!
The nerve! Why if you just type LOUISVILLE in this blog’s search engine, you’ll see we’re as pure as the driven snow down here.