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Taxpayers Win! |
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No State Bailout of
Scandal-Ridden UW Oshkosh Foundation |
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In May, I became aware of closed-door efforts to
orchestrate a taxpayer financed bailout of the
scandal-ridden private UW Oshkosh Foundation.
Immediately, I began communicating to the UW System
Administration, the Board of Regents and the Wisconsin
Department of Justice my strong objections to any
settlement utilizing either state funds or dollars
collected from students. |
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The private foundation is at least $14.5 million in debt
due to questionable business transactions and has no
reliable sources of ongoing revenue to pay its
creditors. The situation developed when the private
foundation’s board and two high level administrators at
UW Oshkosh orchestrated property purchases and
developments to get around state and university rules. As a part of the secretive arrangements, at least $11
million in university funds were sent to the private
foundation in violation of university rules and state
law. The private foundation has only paid about $6
million of those dollars back to UW Oshkosh. |
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Yesterday, the UW System Board of Regents announced it
would end efforts to orchestrate a taxpayer bailout of
the private foundation. This is a major victory for
taxpayers and blocks a precedent setting bailout of a
private foundation within the UW System. |
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Additionally, the Wisconsin Department of Justice is
attempting to recoup some of the inappropriately
transferred public funds through a civil lawsuit aimed
at the former Chancellor and Assistant Chancellor
responsible for this financial crisis. In a separate
review, the Department of Justice is also seeking to
determine if any criminal activity occurred as a part of
the scandal that has engulfed both UW Oshkosh and the
private UW Oshkosh Foundation. |
