Why higher education gets stuck with crooks like Harold Raveche

An editorial in today's New York Times notes that "disputes about financial management of college and universities have become increasingly commonplace," but it does not give a reason why this is happening.

Readers of this blog, however, understand that during the 1990s colleges changed their primary mission from education to making money, a disastrous decision that not only dumbed down college classes in the name of "retention" of customers but invited in a whole crop of CEO-wannabe administrators who understood that there was endless money to be made. No one was watching while they stuffed huge quantities of cash into their pockets.

In the case of Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, one of the new breed of administrators who looked a lot more like Gordon Gecko than John Dewey, began relentlessly stuffing his pockets. To make sure no one noticed he got rid of the more frugal members of the college board and replaced them with his friends, who knew when to look the other way while the coffers were looted.

As outlined in  this story in the Times, the New Jersey Attorney General has accused Harold Raveche, the president of the college,  with plundering the college's endowment fund. The college loaned him $1.8 million in illegal low interest loans, some of which were forgiven. For this bit of mischief the college reimbursed him with a $1.1 million salary.

Parents who want to know why their tuition is so high need look no farther. Who do you think pays for all of this? Why is it that colleges seem unable to control their costs and raise tuition at three times the inflation rate? Could it be that there are even more crooks lurking behind the ivy-covered walls? It used to be unthinkable that those nerdy college administrators with their tweed jackets and elbow patches were in it for the dough. But as crooks like Raveche are finally hauled into court the public will soon begin to question those high tuition payments and demand a thorough housecleaning. It's coming soon, folks.

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