ST. LOUIS — When it comes to raising money from proud graduates, most college alumni associations can be counted on to ask their members for help.
But after a Missouri chiropractic college booted its alumni association off campus this summer amid an escalating feud with school leaders, the not-so-proud graduates are instead collecting money for a possible lawsuit against their alma mater.
“The crux of the problem is we asked questions, and we were evicted from campus,” said Kim Hartmann, erstwhile alumni director at Logan University in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield.
The alumni organization was ordered to leave campus after the group raised questions about school finances and took a vote of no confidence in the school’s board of trustees. For now, Hartmann works in a small office nearby.
Alan Epstein, a past alumni association president who practices in New Jersey, said Monday the graduates’ grievances include concerns over excessive presidential pay. Former school president George Goodman, who retired last year, earned nearly $800,000 annually in salary and benefits and had three relatives on the university’s payroll: his wife, son and daughter-in-law.
“It’s unfortunate, but there are powers that be who don’t have the school’s best interests at heart,” said Epstein, a 1993 graduate. “If we don’t speak up, then no one will.”
Goodman was president for 20 years and spent more than four decades on campus. After signaling his planned resignation, he challenged the school’s decision to fire him in early February less than two months before his departure date and sought more than $550,000 from an arbitration panel. Alumni leaders said the school has settled Goodman’s claim for more than $1 million.
