Texas University Officials Accused of Misusing Donations
February 22, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Two University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center administrators have spent tens of thousands of dollars of donated money on seemingly extravagant items, reports CBS 11 News, in Dallas.
Kern Wildenthal, president of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, and Cynthia Bassel, the university’s executive vice president for external relations, who are paid $1,166,582 and $344,600 respectively, made questionable purchases, the television station said, which it discovered by combing through the institution’s financial records. The station received the records through the state’s Public Information Act.
Mr. Wildenthal declined to discuss the expenses with the television station, but a spokesman for the university said the spending by both officials was “totally legal, ethical, and appropriate.”
The television station points to several credit-card expenses billed by Dr. Wildenthal and Ms. Bassel to the Southwestern Medical Foundation, the university’s fund-raising arm. Those include $160,000 worth of luxury wines, $30,000 for mail-order gifts to donors from the Velvet Crème Popcorn Company, in Kansas, as well as trips to England, France, Italy, and Switzerland made by Dr. Wildenthal to conduct business for the Wendy and Emery Reves Foundation.
