What Killed Burlington College?

[SecularMotion]

The end of the school year doesn’t just mark graduation at Burlington College, the small Vermont institution led by Jane Sanders from 2004 to 2011. The school announced on Monday that it will shut down later this month, facing insurmountable financial difficulties. The closure comes after years of difficulty for Burlington College, a small school founded in 1972 for nontraditional students.

“It is with great sense of loss to the educational community that Burlington College's progressive and unique educational model will no longer be available to students,” the school said in a statement.

Many of the school’s financial difficulties date to Sanders’s tenure as president. She has been a frequent presence alongside her husband, Senator Bernie Sanders, on the presidential campaign trail. In announcing the closure, the school blamed the "crushing weight of the debt" from the purchase of a new campus in 2010, during Sanders’s tenure. Burlington said its bank had pulled the school’s line of credit. The college was already at risk of losing its accreditation—which is essential for receiving federal funds and conferring legitimacy—if it could not resolve its financial difficulties.

When Jane Sanders became Burlington College’s president in 2004, she had previously served as interim president at Goddard College, her alma mater, about an hour east of Burlington. Bernie Sanders served as Burlington’s mayor from 1981 to 1989. (Jane Sanders holds a a doctorate in Leadership and Policy Studies from the Union Institute, a nontraditional school that critics sometimes call a diploma mill. Union made national headlines during the 2012 campaign because Marcus Bachmann, husband of then-Representative Michele Bachmann, also received his doctorate there.)

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/what-happened-at-burlington-college/482973/

[scscholar]

1. So it couldn't be saved...

and she did a great job keeping it running as long as possible.

[Sheepshank]

3. she racked up millions in debt and left with a $200K golden parachute...with only 70 students

nothing noble with what she did there.

[pnwmom]

4. She left in 2011, one year after she signed the sketchy multi-million loans. n/t

[Agschmid]

13. This is not accurate.

I don't think this is a campaign issue but she very clearly ran this college into the ground.

I was there, I saw it happen.

[Corporate666]

2. When she was president, loan documents were falsified

Hard to imagine she has nothing to do with that. There were outright lies told about money coming in and those lies were used to get the money for the loan. That's fraud.

There were other issues too - serious issues.

[hedda_foil]

5. That's some very serious charges, so how about credible, non Brockian links to back them up.

Oh, and don't forget the other serious issues. Those need serious links to back up as well. And NOT from Correct the Record or that blue site Brock bought, please. That would be refreshing.

[KittyWampus]

10. I've posted plenty of links.

Donor sues Burlington College, alleges misused money
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2016/02/22/founder-sues-burlington-college-alleges-misused-funds/80750564/


The estate of one a former faculty member and donor of Burlington College has sued the institution, alleging the college misused money intended for student scholarships to prop up the institution during financial troubles in recent years.

"My client acted in good faith in conveying $70,000 to the school with a fairly detailed agreement as to how the school was to handle that money, and they did something totally beyond the scope of the agreement," said Norm Blais, who represents the estate of G. Jason Conway.


……………………………………………………………….
UPDATED: EX-BURLINGTON COLLEGE STUDENTS ASK TO JOIN LAWSUIT
MAR. 2, 2016, 12:44 PM BY MORGAN TRUE LEAVE A COMMENT

Five former Burlington College students are seeking to join a lawsuit brought by the estate of a former professor alleging a scholarship fund created in his name was used for other purposes.

The fund was created with $70,000 from the estate of G. Jason Conway, who died in 2010. He and his wife, Marcia Vance, were longtime faculty at Burlington College.

VTDigger reported in 2014 that financial statements and interviews with former staff indicated that Burlington College used at least $50,000 from the fund to cover operating expenses in 2012 when the college was in dire financial straits.

The former students say they potentially could have benefited from Conway Vance scholarships if the fund had been managed properly. All five students qualified for other scholarships but still paid tuition and other fees to attend Burlington College.

http://vtdigger.org/2016/03/02/ex-burlington-college-students-ask-to-join-scholarship-lawsuit/
Through this world I've wandered & seen lo

[KittyWampus]

11. More links

VT Attorney General investigating financial mismanagement.

The college has had significant fiscal problems for several years, and the Vermont Attorney General is investigating alleged financial mismanagement. Christine Plunkett, the former president, left the college in August under a cloud, and the new interim president Carol Moore is set to take office next month. The college remains on academic probation and has not attracted new students for the next semester.

The college’s financial issues and the potential development of the property under its ownership has raised eyebrows. The campus, formerly owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, is considered to be the most valuable piece of undeveloped lakefront property in the city.

One developer, who declined to give his name, said the original purchase and the new deal with Farrell does not pass the smell test because so many powerful people — the wife of a U.S. senator, city councilors, former and current state officials and several prominent developers — are involved.

http://www.vermontbiz.com/news/december/burlington-college-fight-survival


………………………………………………..


CATHOLIC CHURCH TAKES LOSS IN LOAN SETTLEMENT WITH BURLINGTON COLLEGE

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington lost at least $1.5 million and perhaps as much as $2 million on a $3.65 million loan to Burlington College, according to financial statements from the church.

In 2010, Burlington College bought the former diocese headquarters on North Avenue for $10 million. The diocese sold the property to help cover the cost of a $17 million settlement with victims of priest sex abuse in Vermont.

The college borrowed heavily to buy the 33-acre prime Lake Champlain waterfront property. The purchase was part of an ambitious expansion plan for the school, led by Jane Sanders, the former Burlington College president and the wife of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. In August 2011, Jane Sanders resigned as doubts emerged about her plans and fundraising strategy. The college trustees gave her a $200,000 early exit package.

http://vtdigger.org/2015/12/23/catholic-church-nailed-in-loan-settlement-with-burlington-college/


…………………………………………
Group calls for fraud investigation into Jane Sanders' land deals

A group of Catholic parishioners want the U.S. Attorney for Vermont to investigate Jane Sanders, the wife of Bernie Sanders, for alleged bank fraud stemming from a land deal she secured as President of Burlington College.

"It appears that Ms. Sanders misrepresented confirmed donations in order to get that loan," said Brady Toensing, an attorney and Vice Chair of the Vermont Republican Party.

Toensing is representing a group of Catholic parishioners. He alleges Jane Sanders cost the Diocese between $1.6 and $2 million dollars in 2010 and 2011. He says she misrepresented the amount of money Burlington college could raise to support a land purchase from the Catholic Church. A loan from People's United Bank was contingent upon Sanders and the college coming up with more than $2 million dollars. "The bank understood it as confirmed donations," Toensing said.

The documents sent to U.S. Attorney Eric Miller suggest Sanders never secured the donations she told the bank she already had.




http://www.wcax.com/story/30935632/group-calls-for-fraud-investigation-into-jane-sanders-land-deals

[Corporate666]

12. Google is your friend

The details are out there - here's one source

http://heatst.com/politics/catholic-parishioners-investigate-jane-sanders-for-federal-loan-fraud/

The college made a commitment that it had millions in grants and donations lined up. The loan was contingent upon having that funding in place. They almost immediately defaulted on the loan, underwritten by the diocese, and raised only about 10% of the necessary amount the first year.

But they claimed the other 90% was guaranteed funds. It wasn't.

http://vtdigger.org/2015/09/13/jane-sanders-overstated-donation-amounts-in-loan-application-for-burlington-college/

Sanders misrepresented a $1 million bequest upon death of the giver as a term payment over 5 years with a lump sump payment in year 6. It was not possible for the bequest to be paid out on that schedule, yet it is listed as such on the loan document that she signed.

Other donors came forward to say that their donations had been misrepresented too - things had been discussed but never committed to were listed as firm commitments on the loan documents.

That is fraud. It it was just the $1MM donation, it could possibly be just incompetence, but multiple donors all having their donations misrepresented? That's fraudulent.

[Agschmid]

14. SevenDaysVT had extensive coverage of this when I happened.

This isn't Brock swill.

[NurseJackie]

6. It's unclear ... IS there a law enforcement probe into the college's finances?

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2016/05/16/burlington-college-shut-down-programs/84439890/

In response to reporters' questions about a law enforcement probe into the college's finances, Holm and Moore declined to comment.

"No comment" is not a denial ... it doesn't look good.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. How very odd that this claim didn't come up until now....

[Corporate666]

15. It's been out there for a long time

At least 9+ months. These types of cases take a long time to work through the system - but the fact that Sanders actions when she was running the college have finally bankrupted them, I expect the diocese will be looking for recompense given that they just got screwed out of a lot of money.

[Agschmid]

16. It's been in the news since it happened.

This isn't *new*.

[Haveadream]

17. The story is old news and extremely well known to the people of Burlington

It just hasn't made it into the mainstream. Many people have known about Jane's involvement in the fraud for a long time. In addition to the fraudulent loan, there were also Caribbean holidays funded by the school that were written off as curricula, monies paid to family members, disputes with students and faculty and an extremely generous severance package considering the school was failing.

In September 2008, "representatives of the Student Government Association (SGA) began meeting with students, faculty and staff about what they described as a “toxic and disruptive environment” on campus, which they blame on Burlington College President Jane O’Meara Sanders." This came after the controversial dismissal of Burlington College professor Genese Grill. Grill alleges her dismissal had nothing to do with her performance as a professor, but instead with her criticism of President Sanders. Grill had started "to ask questions about what I viewed as harassment and unethical treatment of other faculty and staff members, many of whom have since left the college disgruntled and angry.”

In 2010, "Burlington College’s finances took a turn for the worse, when Jane Sanders, the college’s former president and the wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, bought a $10 million lakefront property from the local Roman Catholic diocese." The small college with less than two hundred students took on $10 million of debt through loans, including a $500,000 loan from real estate developer (and old friend of Bernie Sanders) Tony Pomerleau. Sanders also worked out a deal with Vermont Educational and Health Buildings Finance Agency (VEHBFA) and People's Bank to receive funding. Some have pointed out inconsistencies and misrepresentations in how Burlington College secured this deal. Others (mostly conservative blogs) have even gone as far as accusing Sanders and Burlington College of committing loan fraud.



Jane Sanders resigned in September 2011 with $200,000 severance pay.

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/burlington-college-students-press-for-changes-after-profs-dismissal/Content?oid=2135730
http://vtdigger.org/2011/09/27/jane-sanders-resigns-presidency-of-burlington-college-reaches-settlement/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/08/25/costly-campus-and-erratic-enrollment-strategies-have-vermont-college-edge
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/bernie-sanders-2016-loan-fraud/2015/03/27/id/634817/

[randome]

8. Maybe SOME Sanders supporters will realize complicated things happen w/complicated people.

No, who am I kidding? Angry soundbites rule the day.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Hortensis]

9. And in a complicated world. The college

tried to deal with changing demand by investing in development, as so many others have done. It didn't work, as it has not with many others. We don't know if Jane Sanders' decisions contributed or how much and have no reason to say they did or did not.

The one thing I do know for sure is that no one would hire me to save a college.