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Saturday, April 10, 2004
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High-Steppin' Tennessee
UD, which has already had what to say about overcompensated, underwhelming, and sometimes quite corrupt university presidents and chancellors [see UD Archives, January 10 and March 12], is now prepared to declare the state of Tennessee the current winner in the dirty university leadership sweepstakes. The latest developing scandal out of that state involves the president of Tennessee State University, who got free Superbowl tickets worth four thousand dollars or so from Aramark, the university's food contractor. TSU's president also recently handed out large sums of scholarship money when there wasn't any money to hand out (and when many of the recipients didn't qualify for the scholarships), thus causing a budget deficit. TSU's president has turned to another inept administrator to produce some language defending him on the university's website. It's exactly the sort of statement that makes matters worse, full of pomposity about the president's long-unquestioned integrity (well, it's being questioned now, you see) and explaining that he gave admittedly undeserving students scholarships when he discerned "leadership skills" (great phrase, that) in them, and that his judgment in these matters has always been virtually "flawless." (Oh - we'll shut up then.) This is all small change, though, compared to the John Shumaker dustup. He was until recently president of the University of Tennessee. As CNN.com reported [August 9, 2003]: Questions arose this summer about whether John Shumaker used the school's airplane for personal trips and charged personal expenses to his university credit card. He cut up the credit card and earlier this month reimbursed the university $25,000 for commercial and UT airplane flights. A $300,000 no-bid consulting contract to a Shumaker friend in Washington to help start education programs in China also has been questioned. "It is in the best interest of the university, its students, faculty, staff and alumni, to move forward and put these controversies behind us," Gov. Phil Bredesen said Friday. "I have to say it pained me as governor to watch this happening." Shumaker, 60, came to the university, which has 42,000 students at five campuses, a little more than a year ago from the University of Louisville. Both schools have ordered audits of his spending. Documents released as part of a contentious divorce in Louisville have also raised questions. Shumaker testified under oath that he accepted a $10,000 "gift" in the mid-1990s from Hyundai after signing a $110,000 training contract with the automaker on behalf of Central Connecticut State University [a veritable forcing-ground of dirty presidents! Remember Pore Jud?], where he was president from 1987 to 1995. Connecticut officials said that violated state ethics laws but planned no investigation because the statute of limitations had expired. Shumaker also testified that he took out a marriage license in Louisville with his nanny, a former CCSU student from Beijing, without actual plans to wed to help her with visa problems. His ex-wife, Lucy, claimed during the divorce that the process used to select him as UT's 21st president was rigged in Shumaker's favor. Shumaker did not respond to e-mail and telephone messages left Friday at his home and office. Bredesen said Shumaker was taking a vacation. He became the second president of a large state university to quit under fire this week. On Wednesday, University of Massachusetts President William M. Bulger resigned after months of pressure over his relationship with his brother, a fugitive mobster. Bredesen said a severance package would pay Shumaker his $365,000 base salary and accumulated deferred compensation through the end of this year. His total compensation package of $733,550 a year had ranked him as the nation's second best-paid public university president. Shumaker's predecessor, J. Wade Gilley, resigned about two years ago citing health problems. E-mail released by the school romantically linked Gilley with a university administrator, Pamela Reed, who then resigned amid allegations she had embellished her resume. UPDATE, April 18: Tennessean.com notes that people in Tennessee have begun defending one corrupt university president by comparing him to a concurrent, more corrupt university president. The paper quotes a local minister: ''Wrong is wrong, but there's a whole lot of difference between flying around the country on dates at university expense and taking four tickets to the Super Bowl,'' said Dixon, pastor of Hobson United Methodist Church in east Nashville, referring to former University of Tennessee President John Shumaker. ''There's a difference between taking millions to fix a president's home and taking half a million to send kids to school.'' Shumaker was reported to have spent close to a half-million dollars to renovate his university home. SECOND UPDATE, April 21 IS IT SOMETHING IN THE BLUEGRASS?? From Tennessean.com about President McPhee of Middle Tennessee State University: In a complaint filed in October, Allen [a university employee] accused McPhee of repeatedly touching her sexually and making sexually charged remarks — such as calling his penis a ''seven wood'' — during golf outings, office meetings and trips to out-of-state football games over the previous 14 months. While he denied those claims and said Allen was motivated by anger over her exclusion from an office golf team, McPhee acknowledged spending time with her ''in off-campus and after-hours situations'' and creating a hostile work environment. The Tennessee Board of Regents suspended him without pay for 20 days and cut his $186,170 salary by $10,000 for a year. Allen later filed a civil lawsuit in Rutherford County against McPhee, MTSU and the state, saying the Board of Regents didn't sufficiently investigate her allegations. Allen, who now works in MTSU's development office, declined to comment Thursday. The critics feel Allen's suit could hang over the university for a long time, keeping MTSU in the public eye for the wrong reasons. Moreover, they say, McPhee, 48, has shown signs of instability and shaky principles in recent months. They think he has discouraged criticism of himself and MTSU, and they're disturbed by his apparent suicide attempt before Allen's complaint went public |