The university has transferred $902,338 to the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate as repayment for the funds allegedly embezzled by two former employees, TCU Pres-ident Duncan Pickard announced last night. The restoration marks the realization of the administration's pledge to compensate the Senate for the money supposedly pilfered between 2001-2007 by former Office of Student Activities administrators Jodie Nealley and Ray Rodriguez.
While they are charged with taking $977,449, the $902,338 figure represents the amount that can be traced back to TCU accounts. The remaining funds likely came from other locations, including the private bank account of Tufts Student Resources.
"Every dollar, 100 percent of the monies promised [to the Senate has] been returned," Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said in a press release.
"[The administration] couldn't have handled it any better," Pickard told the Daily after his announcement, which came during a Senate meeting last night.
The administration has filed an insurance claim seeking to be reimbursed for lost funds but decided to replenish the Senate's coffers even as an insurance payout remains uncertain.
"I'm very pleased that the university fulfilled its promise to us … to make the TCU whole and return all these funds to the students," TCU Treasurer Matt Shapanka said.
Also during the meeting, the Senate formally forgave the debts from last year of six student groups: the Senate itself, the yearbook, TCU Operations, the Programming Board, the Elections Commission and the Tae Kwon Do Club. Combined, these groups went $162,211.33 in the red during the last fiscal year.
Of those funds, $133,269.44, or the total deficit incurred by the first three of those groups, can be traced to embezzlement. In the cases of the Programming Board, the Elections Commission and the Tae Kwon Do Club, the Senate decided to forgive the debts for unrelated reasons.
The university has had the money set aside for the Senate since June, the Daily reported earlier this month, but has been waiting to work out a final number for how much of the $977,449 was owed to the group.
Tufts initiated the transfer on Wednesday, and the Senate has already received the money, according to Shapanka.
The recovered funds have gone into a Senate account set up for just that purpose. Shapanka overdrew the account by $188,046.28 this summer in order to repay a debt to the university stemming from embezzled funds, anticipated debt forgiveness to groups unaffected by embezzlement, problems with cash flow in the Senate's Citizens Bank account and confusion stemming from interdepartmental payments.
Consequently, the net balance in the account that is now available to the Senate is $714,291.72
The Senate is looking to handle these funds in a way that benefits the entire student body. To that end, senators will seek input from students through a series of town hall-style meetings and through interactive media such as Facebook.com.
According to Shapanka, input is important because the money belongs to the community rather than to individual groups. Aside from the $162,211.33 in debt forgiveness, the balance of the $902,338 was supposedly stolen from general funds under the Senate's control rather than from individual groups.
In some cases, Nealley and Rodriguez allegedly took money by not depositing groups' incomes, but they supposedly stole the bulk of the money by dipping directly into the Citizens Bank account where they Senate deposited the Student Activities Fee. This year, the fee was $268 per student.
Since most of the money stems from individual contributions from students and their families, Shapanka said that the community should have a say in how it is handled. "Every Tufts undergraduate paid an equal share into this fund, and everyone is entitled to reap the benefits," he said.
The restoration of the funds brings to a close a process that began last November when Nealley was fired for alleged embezzlement. Since then, the Senate has been looking to get repaid.
According to Shapanka, communication between the Senate and the university had fizzled toward the start of the semester, but has picked up again recently as preparations for the transfer have been finalized.
Meanwhile, the Senate has closed its Citizens Bank account and brought its money into the university tracking system, where its members hope it will be more secure.
"The best aspect of the reform is now it's one system … for everything," Shapanka said.
