When Ivor van Heerden had the temerity to criticize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina, LSU was both quick in its decision to can him. Van Heerden’s observations, whether accurate or not (they were), was placing LSU’s quest for federal funding in jeopardy, so he had to go.
When Dr. Randall Schaffer tried to warn the LSU School of Dentistry that a joint replacement device developed by Dr. John Kent, head of the school’s Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, was defective, Schaffer was not only fired by LSU, but his career ruined in the process. Never mind that the device wound up costing the state tens of millions of dollars. He had to go.
I could go on, but instead, I’ll let you read about other examples HERE.
The purpose of all this is not to re-hash well-documented examples of LSU’s propensity for taking a self-serving approach to problem-solving, but to shed some additional light on what may be evidence of a double standard at Louisiana’s flagship university.
First, there was a NEWS REPORT by a Baton Rouge television station indicating that the two principals at University Laboratory School (ULS), secondary principal Frank Rusciano and elementary principal Myra Broussard, had established their own business so that they could be compensated for aftercare programs at the schools for the 2017-2018 school year.
In setting up a system whereby parents could have their credit cards drafted for the after-school program but then did not deposit those funds into the University account to “ensure that they (the principals) would get paid,” a REPORT by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor said. The audit said 63 percent of ULS purchases randomly reviewed by auditors, were for items or services “not typically allowed by University policy…” and that the actions by Rusciano and Broussard appeared to represent “an attempt to circumvent University disapproval and University policy.”
So, just how did LSU and ULS respond to the report?
Well, the two principals were “suspended pending an investigation” and interim Dean Dr. Roland Mitchell said outcomes “are in process and will be completed no later than June 30, 2019.
Wait, what? The story broke on March 18, almost two months ago and Mitchell said the outcomes will be completed “no later than June 30.” That’s almost three-and-one-half months to consider what a state audit has already determined.
Or three-and-one-half months for folks to forget and a determination of no cause of action to be reached.
Remember, van Heerden and Dr. Schaffer got the axe immediately with no due process accorded them. Same thing for Drs. Roxanne Townsend and Fred Cerise. Ditto for John Lombardi and Stephen Guillot.
But wait. The story apparently doesn’t end there.
LouisianaVoice has been told that Mitchell, who oversees the Lab School, and the school’s superintendent, Dr. Amy Westbrook, who oversees the two principals, told the LSU Human Resources manager that the two principals needed to be terminated.
But the same source said that when the Human Resources manager began the process, a telephone call was received from the governor’s office and Gov. John Bel Edwards “asked” that the principals not be fired.
“I voted for Edwards and would like to do so again,” a Lab School parent said. “My kids went to U-High and had a great experience there. I liked the principal a lot. But if this is true, it’s so outrageous that the public needs to know. A lot of well-connected people have their kids at the Lab School, including the Jindals. A lot of them donate to the LSU Foundation and to political campaigns, so the principals at the Lab School have a lot of pull—more than the LSU President in many ways, and certainly more than the Dean of the College of Education or the head of HRM.
“That’s compounded because many of the people involved, like the dean, the HRM, and the Lab School superintendent, are interim because of the many departures LSU has experienced in recent years.
“I, along with many taxpayers, are frustrated about self-dealing by politicians and their friends.”
On Wednesday, I sent an inquiry to both Edwards campaign manager Richard Carbo and to the governor’s press office in which I provided our source’s claim, adding:
“If true, I would like to know why the governor has intervened in what would clearly be an internal matter.
“If not true, has the governor had any contact with officials at LSU on this matter? If so, what was the nature of that contact?
Carbo responded three minutes later:
From: Richard Carbo <richarda.carbo@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2019 3:35 PM
To: Tom Aswell <louisianavoice@outlook.com>
Subject: Re: INQUIRY
Thanks Tom.
I’m digging into this and will let you know.
By Saturday, I still had not heard a word from either Carbo or the governor’s press office, so I followed up with another email to Carbo:
From: Tom Aswell
Sent: Saturday, June 8, 2019 8:55 AM
To: ‘richardacarbo@gmail.com’ <richardacarbo@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: INQUIRY
Still waiting.
One-and-one-half hours later, at 10:31 a.m., Carbo responded:
From: Richard Carbo <richarda.carbo@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 8, 2019 10:31 AM
To: Tom Aswell <louisianavoice@outlook.com>
Cc: richardacarbo@gmail.com
Subject: Re: INQUIRY
The official side should be responding.
Two-and-one-half hours later, there was still no response from the “official side.”
Could it be that the concern of our source about “self-dealing by politicians and their friends” might have been well-placed?
Let’s not rush to judgment. Sometimes it takes time for a convoluted mish-mash of excuses and lies by all of the involved parties to get their “official story line” sorted through. It’s hard to cover your butt when collusion comes into play. However, with all of the experience that Louisiana Officials have at this exercise, you’d think they could whip up a half-way decent yarn quicker than this group is doing.
Looks like records requests are in order.
All the “conflict” issues outlined in the WAFB report seem to be violations of the Code of Governmental Ethics. If LSU has not made an Agency Head Report to the Board of Ethics (the Agency Head to whom these principals report) after learning of these potential violations of Louisiana law, then those superiors may also be in violation of the Code of Governmental Ethics. It seems that the Board of Ethics would automatically get notified of these potential allegations by the Legislative Auditor and would take up the alleged violations. We might hear from the Board of Ethics several years from now about these issues, if Ethics can keep its investigators and attorneys on board for more than a year or two without them jumping ship.