College president's signature forged

By Josh Rutenberg     3/18/10 7:00pm

Editor's note: The headline of this article has been changed from the original version and mention of the word "fraudulent" has been changed.Last month, parents and alumni received letters soliciting donations to the annual fund from college presidents and student representatives. However, one of the letters contained a misleading machine-generated signature.

For the past four years, the Rice Annual Fund has raised money through the College Battle, with the winning college receiving the Sammy Cup and a $1,000 cash prize.

Traditionally, RAF sends letters to parents of current students and alumni of the college to solicit contributions, which go toward providing scholarships and supporting university and civic engagement programs. RAF determines the winners during Willy Week.

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Before sending the letters, RAF coordinated with college presidents and a philanthropy committee of 15 student representatives to draft letters specific to each college. Since Duncan College and McMurtry College currently lack seniors and alumni, RAF paired them with Baker College and Will Rice College, respectively. This year, four college presidents opted not to sign the form for varying reasons. In most cases, signatures from members of the student philanthropy committee, which operates under RAF, replaced those of college presidents who denied RAF permission. However, RAF provided a machine-generated version of Martel College President Sean McBeath's signature on the letter sent to Martel students' parents and alumni without his consent.

Vice President for Resource Development Darrow Zeidenstein said RAF regrets using McBeath's name to endorse the letter without his consent.

"We are very apologetic to Sean and to Martel," Zeidenstein said.

RAF Director Michele Boillotat said the error came about in the haste to send out the letters in time.

"It was not intentional and we had to meet a deadline," Boillotat said.

McBeath declined to comment, but said he was planning to meet with RAF this week to discuss the situation.

Baker College President Kathy Kellert, Hanszen College President Erol Bakkalbasi, Brown College President Jackie Ammons and Jones College President Andrew McDermott said they had no problems with the letters sent to students at their respective colleges.

"I thought as long as it went to a good cause, I was fine with it," Ammons said. "It goes towards scholarships and possibly helping Brown."

Other presidents expressed concern that the letters might confuse potential donors.

After corresponding with RAF on the letter, Wiess College President Alex Bonnel decided to allow RAF to use his signature in the letter.

"We just wanted to be clear that the money parents give would not go to [the colleges] directly," Bonnel said.

Will Rice President Kyle Clark said he wished the presidents had had more time to work on the letters.

"It was essentially handing them a blank check, and I decided that was a bad idea," Clark said about giving RAF his signature for the letter. "I emailed them back and said it did not sound like it came from a Will Ricer. They sent me a revised copy and it looked all right, but they were out of time and I never gave him my signature."

Lovett College President Erin Finn said she decided not to sign the letter out of consideration for Lovetteers who spent the past year adjusting to construction at Will Rice and Baker and the closing of Lovett's servery.

"It's hard for me as Lovett president to sign off on a fundraiser that I've seen disproportionately benefit other colleges," Finn said. "I didn't want to send something to Lovett parents asking them for more money."

To avoid future miscommunication, both college presidents and RAF have acknowledged a need for more time to allow for proper communication.

"This has brought to light a need to educate the college presidents what [RAF] is all about," Boillotat said of the Annual Fund competition. "The College Battle is about promoting the college system and is meant to be a fun way of engaging students.

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