Find The Boots

Institution and Ex-President

Symbol of Excess

What Happened

Adelphi U., Peter Diamandopoulos

Million dollar Manhattan apartment

New York State officials ousted the private university’s board, saying it was too generous with Diamondopoulos while Adelphi’s finances were shaky. The board paid for the apartment and offered Diamondopoulos the right to buy it at a huge discount. In 1997, a new board fired Diamandopoulos.

American U., Benjamin Ladner

Personal chef

Anonymous reports about Ladner’s spending are sent to the university’s board and The Washington Post in the summer of 2005. Ladner is first suspended and then fired.

Hillsdale College, George C. Roche III

Alleged affair with daughter-in-law, who was on payroll

Roche, who had made the college prominent in conservative circles, quit in 1999, following the suicide of his daughter-in-law, who (along with his son) was a college employee.

Stanford U., Donald Kennedy

$7,000 sheets

In the early 1990s, federal investigators looked at Stanford’s overhead costs for U.S. research and found thousands spent on sheets, an Italian wooden commode, and an enlarged bed for the then-president. Kennedy announced his plans to resign shortly after a 1991 Congressional hearing where these expenses were mocked.

Towson U., Mark Perkins

$860,000 house renovation

Perkins quit as president in 2002, after less than a year on the job, amid criticism that renovations on his home cost more than the home itself. The renovations cost the university hundreds of thousands more than the budget plan.

U. of Central Florida, Steven Altman

Massages while traveling on university business

Altman quit as president of the University of Central Florida in 1991 amid a state investigation that he had used an escort service while traveling on university business. Altman said that he got massages to relieve stress, but had never to his knowledge used an escort service.

U. of Minnesota, Kenneth Keller

$650,000 kitchen renovation

Keller quit in 1988 amid an uproar over spending on his office and on Eastcliff, the president’s home. The kitchen and dining room were a focal point of renovations that cost well over $1 million.

U. of Tennessee, John W. Shumaker

Using university plane for personal visits.

Shumaker had the university replace the presidential plane and used the new plane several times for visits with a woman who was the president of another university and with whom he had a personal relationship. While Shumaker reimbursed the university after the flights became public, he could not ride out the scandal and quit in 2003, a little more than a year after he arrived.