Where my tuition went

STIPIMM: “Ages of You” by R.E.M.

The front page of today’s Washington Post says it all: Dr. Benjamin Ladner, the president of my recent alma mater, American University, was fired from his job, sacked, shitcanned, sent packing, given a pink slip, booted, ousted, deposed, laid off. Ladner had the post taken from him in the wake of a financial scandal.

In the world of east-coast academia, this is a particularly significant event for a number of reasons, most notably for the effect it might have on the hiring and spending practices of university trustees. The importance for yours truly is that it involves, oh, about $20,000 of money I spent to get a degree at this place.

The Post story can explain the details of the scandal far better than I could. But it’s important to know some of the particulars if you intend to read this long, boring post. First off, a few months ago, the board of trustees received an anonymous letter detailing how Ladner had been allegedly squandering school money on decidedly non-school events, including his wife’s social get-togethers, Ladner’s birthday party (at which, apparently, caviar was served), and their son’s engagement party. There were also lavish restaurant trips and unnecessary use of limousines and first-class airfare. The board initiated an audit which found and questioned these expenditures, while Ladner claimed that he was entitled to them under his contract.

There it gets kind of sticky, because Ladner apparently had *two* contracts with the university, only one of which was formally ratified by the board, but both of which had been signed by all parties concerned. It’s the non-ratified one, of course, that allowed Ladner a lot of leeway in how he spent discretionary funds. Ladner disputed the idea that his expenditures were problematic, but he agreed to repay all the questioned expenses and get the whole contract thing ironed out.

But by then, the taint of scandal had sunk in deep. The Post had been aggressively following this story, and for good or for ill, that threw a cloud over whatever was to follow. Both the students and faculty were up in arms over the high-life spending Ladner, who was already one of the highest paid university presidents in the country. The faculty boards of five out of the university’s six schools (including my School of Communication) overwhelmingly voted no-confidence in Ladner. A large group of students protested on campus, marching to the doors of a board meeting and basically raising holy hell over the issue (they march and shout when daddy's money is on the line, but do they fuck shit up for people dying in Iraq? Of course not - daddy might buy them a car, after all [AU has a deserved reputation as being the dumping ground for rich kids who weren't bright enough to get into the Ivy League])

Funny thing is, it seemed at first that Ladner had strong enough support on the board of trustees to remain, but with that kind of opposition in the ranks, the board had no real choice but to let him go. There was just no way the man could have restored his credibility in the eyes of the students and faculty.

And so, now he’s gone. And I could barely care less. I’m mainly interested in this as a news event that took place close to home; I’m certainly not really concerned about it as “a member of the American University community.” Whatever. As those of you who saw me hightail it out of the shadow of Rice University know, I’m not one to buy into the idea of the importance of the academic quality of your alma mater. If I ever encounter someone who would look at my degree and seriously be bothered with where I got it, then that’s not a person I’d want to work for anyway. Perhaps I’d feel differently if I’d actually gone to universities that I had more than a modicum of respect for, but that’s for another blog entry.

I do have an opinion about the whole fiasco, however (just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t *care*). I think what happened at dear old AU can be compared to the impeachment of W.J. Clinton, another chubby president. Political opponents, desperate to get rid of a president they don’t like, finally find a charge that sticks and milk it as much as they can. The trustees of AU are as political a bunch as any you’ll ever find, and Ladner had plenty of supporters and detractors, all equally firm in their beliefs. Ladner got hit by a witchhunt that finally found a witch.

That’s not to say I particularly approve of Ladner’s “imperial lifestyle,” as one of his opponents called it. But there’s a perfectly legitimate reason for a university president having some version of the high-life; just as our American president needs a big executive mansion and all the trappings of rich life to project the power of the country and woo the dignitaries that visit him, so do did our American University president need all that good stuff to woo money out of the pockets of wealthy donors. Ladner raised untold amounts of money for the university with his events, and now students and faculty are shocked, shocked to find out that getting that money required spending some first.

And I don’t think people are naïve of the needs of university presidents to spend money, but as soon as they saw what that meant, with the lavish dinners and limousine rides, etc., then everyone went bezerk. Guess what, American University, your next president will be more careful not to put all of his dinners out on the university tab, but he or she sure as hell will spend as much money as Ladner did.

I really think what it all boils down to, at its essence, is poor-man’s schadenfreude. Most Americans love the idea of being rich, living large and not worrying about money, but only so long it’s us that gets to do it. Having stories of grand living rubbed in one’s face while you’re having trouble making ends meet just makes one angry and hungry for blood. Just ask former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski.

So, yes, I think Ladner got scapegoated. Yeah, he could have been a little smarter about the spending, but the fact is, the board of trustees tacitly approved of that spending and all that it encompassed. If there is anyone at fault, it is the board of trustees for its lousy oversight and for its money-first attitude toward the institution. Because of this fiasco, the board was forced to put a faculty member and a student on the board for the first time. If any good can come from this, perhaps its that the atmosphere in the board room will have changed for the better.

I won’t hold my breath.