Monday, August 27, 2007

The Perks of Higher Ed

Thomas Lifson asks,
What is it about being appointed to run a major university campus that causes the appointee to hire an expensive interior decorator?
A good question, as a trial has started in Houston regarding the perks former Texas Southern University president Priscilla Slade, who is charged with
misspending hundreds of thousands of dollars on personal luxuries.

A $1,000 silk canopy for a four-poster bed, $138,000 for landscaping and $61,600 for a security system are among the items that prosecutors say the former president, Priscilla Slade, fraudulently billed the public for and kept secret from trustees from 1999 to 2005.
The alledged graft is impressive and the witness list includes United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, who was chairman of the university's board during the time.

A security system for $61,000? At that price, it has better electrocute intruders.

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