Adam Andrzejewski is the chairman of the nonprofit American Transparency — an organization that is setting a new standard for exposing the ugly reality of how money is spent by corrupt big government (at all levels). Here is an excerpt from his latest Forbes article:
Wine Cellars, Shooting Clubs, a corrupted $20 Million State Grant, a College President’s $500,000 Comp Package, $600 Million in Construction Projects, & much more…
Nearly every day, the news headlines are screaming about the increasingly unattainable costs of tuition and the insurmountable price tag of attaining a college degree. Student debts are at crushing levels which impacts social mobility and drives a deeper divide between the haves and have nots.
Do you want to know why college costs and debts are so oppressive? Colleges have become fiefdoms unto themselves- even at the local community college level. An excellent case-in-point is within my own locale at the College of DuPage (COD).
Here’s what we’ve exposed at COD during the last 45 days:
Stopped a political strategy to procure a $20 million state grant
Requesting COD President Robert Breuder’s emails during the two week period prior to the governor’s visit to campus for commencement, we exposed a political strategy to “shake loose” a $20 million state construction grant by bringing support to incumbent Governor Pat Quinn. Citing our exposure, the major Chicago dailies editorialized and the scandal ran on the front page. The governor said the president’s strategy was “extremely alarming” and employed “misrepresentation.” Quinn then suspended “all future capital dollars.”COD is cash rich with $180 million in the bank. They didn’t need the extra $20 million, but they wanted it- so badly- they risked their integrity. Read Dr. Breuder’s email strategy here.
Wine, Upscale French Restaurants, and the Shooting Club
Searching COD’s checkbook, we found that the school paid or reimbursed the president for annual membership dues and fees of at least $27,931 at the Max McGraw private shooting club in Dundee, IL (2009-2-2013). COD has purchased over $192,000 of wine and wine accessories in just the past three years- and this doesn’t include the cost of building their wine cellar. The wine cellar is a part of the school’s upscale French restaurant- which lost $560,000 in its first year of operation (2012). Losses for 2013 are still unclear.While the working class students are burdened by limited financial means, COD won a 2013 Wine Spectator award after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Read more: Forbes
