In October, President Michael Roth sent a vague all-campus e-mail, claiming that Thomas Kannam, the University’s Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, had “left Wesleyan University to pursue other opportunities.” No further information was revealed until Jan. 4, when The Argus broke the story that the University had brought a lawsuit against Kannam for $3 million.
This information had been publicly accessible on a government website since Nov. 24.
Roth did not comment on the lawsuit until Jan. 14, when he sent a second e-mail and did not give many further details. The e-mail claimed that “given the pending litigation, it would be inappropriate…to comment at length.”
He also stated that the University’s “strong desire for transparency must be weighed against both legal interests and institutional policy regarding personnel issues.”
While we understand why Roth cannot talk more about the lawsuit due to “legal interests,” it is disconcerting that the University community had to wait until The Argus broke the story to learn about a lawsuit that had been filed on a public website almost two months prior. And furthermore, why did the University community have to wait 10 days after The Argus and other media outlets reported on the story to hear from Roth?
The administration detected Kannam’s fraudulent actions months ago. For that reason, if Roth had commented on the lawsuit earlier, he would have been able to reassure the University community more effectively. Instead, many people are now wondering whether the administration really does have matters under control.
If the Administration really possesses a “strong desire for transparency,” then he should have begun a dialogue with the University community about the lawsuit right after it was filed in late November. By keeping it under wraps, the administration gives the impression that it has something to hide.
Now that the community knows about the lawsuit, we hope that the Administration will be more forthright about the proceedings, and trust us enough to impart more information, both about this lawsuit and any future legal affairs that are pertinent to the Wesleyan community. Otherwise the discussion will be dominated by conspiracy theories.
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