Welcome to the first and last edition of DDC Cribs. In this blog you will read about the fame and fortune of being the NDSU President.
North Dakota State University president Joseph Chapman announced Wednesday that he is resigning. Chapman has been president for a decade and student enrollment has grown every year he has been in office. Research expenditures for the university have grown from less than $50 million when he started to over $100 million in the past several years. Under his guidance NDSU athletics have jumped up to Division I NCAA athletic program.
Now I know some of you are asking "Wow, that sounds like a good track record. Why did he resign?" I will tell you why. Somewhere in his reign President Chapman started throwing money around. He got his latest heat for the cost of his "crib." Originally the estimate for building his house was $900,000. You know as well as I that you cannot get a decent house in Fargo for $900,000 (sarcasm). So, the price of the project grew and grew and ended up being over TWO MILLION DOLLARS which had to be paid by the Development Foundation which is made up of donations. Two million minus $900,000 equals $1,100,000 over budget... yikes.
This isn't the only problem Chapman has had with money. Apparently there have been cost overruns in some recent NDSU building projects. Also, when Barack Obama was inaugurated, Chapman, being the good American that he is, made a trip with his family to go see it for over $22,000. UND sent their President to the inauguration for $2,167. That is less than 10% of the cost of Chapman's little trip. Oh, and it turns out the first lady Gayle Chapman (not the one in Prince's band) was drawing a $50,000 salary from the Development Foundation.
With all the controversy over these things the heat was turned up on Chapman and he decided to resign. He said "It just wasn't fun." However, I'm sure throwing around thousands upon thousands of dollars was, in fact, fun.
So what do you think? Think he should have resigned? Think he likes the bling a little too much? Think I have an obvious bias against the 1-4 Bison which stems back from the heated rivalry for The Nickel?
I’ve driven by that house multiple times while it was being built and I believe that it cost that much, it is definitely very nice. I do think Chapman likes his green dough a little too much. I think it is a good thing that he resigned for NDSU’s sake. Hopefully they can save up money and put it towards other things that will benefit the school more. I cannot believe that it cost him and his family that much more to go to the inauguration of Obama than UND.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great tidbits. I, living in the Great White North of North Dakota, had only heard that he resigned, not all these great juicy details all you in God's country are hearing, probably, on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing he thought he was in the same league as the prezes of U of M or U or Illinois. Those guys are getting paid a fair bit more than he is and probably do have million, uh, excuse me, TWO million dollar homes.
However, he would have saved himself some trouble if he would have been up front about the cost (and the trip) instead of OOPS! going over budget. But then, maybe he knew we fiscally responsible, conservative North Dakotans would have laughed and said, "Do you really NEED that big a house?" Cuz that's what we're all about--need. If you don't need it, why are you buying it? Silly!
I also blogged about President Chapman’s resignation and his lack of fiscal responsibility this week! However, after I had written my blog, my boyfriend and I went out with friends and by the time we got home, I had a slightly different view on things…
ReplyDeleteAs Aimee said in her response, I think Chapman and his wife got trapped in the vicious cycle of trying to keep up with the Jones’. But I also think that the Chapmans are not solely to blame. NDSU has a board; the Development Foundation has a board; Chapman has an Executive Cabinet; where were all of those people when he was flying to the inauguration, authorizing change orders for his home, or cashing his wife’s checks at the bank? I don’t think they were oblivious to the whole thing, do you?
Zack,
ReplyDeleteYour blog was funny, but very true! It’s such a sad (pathetic) and shady topic. I am glad that he resigned, but think he should have been fired long ago. I wonder how long his antics actually went on for without anyone knowing. I can’t believe how greedy some people get. You give them money and they only want more. Think about how well off his family was, but yet they cut all these corners and cheated people to get where they were. I wonder where they’ll end up now. His wife might actually have to try and get a job the normal way (heaven forbid).