We called it the nonprofit scandal of the year. Last week the New York Times took notice with a lengthy article by Sam Dillon. New Jersey College is Beset by Accusations (December 21, 2009). Today, the Times posted an editorial about the lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Attorney General against Stevens Institute of Technology officials. Scandal of the year, you say? Well we don’t often see the Times editorial page posting editorials on nonprofit scandals. As is true for prior years, this year we have seen...
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many scandals involving nonprofits.
The Times points out the political aspects of the Stevens scandal. They note that there is concern by some that some Stevens officials are waiting until a new New Jersey Attorney General takes office next month. Those who are concerned speculate that political influence and connections will be used to shut down the lawsuit.
Whose to blame if that happens? Obviously it will be the politicians, but we expect that sort of behavior from our politicians. One of the main culprits will be the Stute, or as we lovingly refer to it, the Stooge. This is the student-run newspaper at Stevens and it is an enabler of the first order. To date, the Stute has done little, if any, in the way of investigative reporting, claiming that they want to remain neutral. They equate neutrality with failure to make legitimate inquiries. It is frightening that future engineers—people who make their living working with equations—can’t see past an equals sign in order to recognize that Inquiry = Lack of Neutrality is a non-sequitor. It also is frightening that in this age of digital media, students fail to see the power of newspapers and investigative journalism. “Just give me a job, a spouse, two kids, and a dog. Nothing else matters.” That is the true scandal here.
As regular readers of this blog know, we are not fans of Senator Grassley’s use of Senate investigative powers to audit individual tax-exempt entities. This is one time—given the potential for politics to undo the rule of law—when we would welcome a Grassley love letter to Stevens and its management and board.
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