President’s residence

Despite prior administrative claims that all donations used for a $7.2 million construction of a president’s residence were specifically earmarked, university officials funneled some of the funding from a pool of general donations, a Diamondback investigation found.

The recently completed house, which will soon be university President Wallace Loh’s primary residence — in addition to his current College Park home — came at a tough economic time for the university. Construction for the multimillion dollar house began just weeks after officials announced eight sports teams would be cut, and the university was facing a slashed budget for the next fiscal year.

Initially, the planned residence sparked some public outcry, from commentary on social networks to critical columns in The Washington Post.

But former University Relations Vice President Brodie Remington assuaged those concerns, stating 30 private donors — who had specifically pledged to the project — were fully funding the house’s construction. Because that money had been donor-earmarked for the residence, it could not be used to save any sports teams or go toward scholarship funds, Remington said.

“The donors to this project have stepped forward because they believe in the benefit of this project as a way to raise money,” Remington told The Diamondback in January. “All the donors support other projects and programs at this university and have absolutely agreed they will continue doing so, in some cases at an even higher level.”

The project has been entirely overseen by the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, a private nonprofit organization led then by Remington. Officials originally said they would cap the project’s cost at $6.2 million when public planning began in December 2010. But after that figure went up, a source close to the fundraising effort said University Relations staff members were charged with raising $2 million to $3 million of earmarked money.

The source, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said officials actively encouraged interested donors to gear money toward the house, not other projects. And, the source said, a public university that uses state money was paying its employees to do so.

“That means obviously state money is being used for these people to try to raise money for the house,” the source said. “It takes away from fundraising ability for scholarships.”

One of the project’s listed donors did not intend for his donation to fund the project, the source said. John Holmes, who is deceased, left $471,000 to the foundation in late 2010, just as plans for the house were underway, with only a stipulation that it be used for “general uses and purposes,” Remington wrote in an email in September. Remington decided to put the money toward the new house.

“The Foundation had full latitude in deciding how to use the generous gift and chose to invest in a project that year in and year out will help raise millions of dollars for scholarships, academic programs, and other campus objectives,” Remington wrote. “We believe any donor who supports ‘general uses and purposes’ would be pleased to have his/her gift leverage many more gifts over many years for the advancement of the University.”

The executive committee could have used the money for another initiative, but believed the house was the most worthwhile investment, he said.

The Diamondback spoke with three donors after multiple calls to several of them.

According to a list of received donations and their donors sent to The Diamondback, university alumna Judith Ganz, of Belmont, Mass., donated $2,500 in cash. However, when The Diamondback asked her about the donation, Ganz said she hadn’t heard about the president’s residence.

“I’m friendly with Brodie Remington, and it was through him I made the donation,” Ganz said.

Alumnus Philip Rever said University Relations staff members visited him and his wife and asked if they were interested in donating to the residence specifically. He subsequently pledged $25,000.

Officials first announced plans to renovate the president’s residence in August 2010. Since then, there have been some discrepancies between the amounts officials reported securing and the amount shown in documents obtained by The Diamondback.

A third donor, alumnus Greg Schaub of Austin, Texas, said he decided to support the project after he learned of it and after January construction had begun.

“It was purely something I saw and took a proactive interest in after I saw the literature on it,” said Schaub, whose donation totaled less than $1,000.

In December 2010, officials announced the selection of a design-build team and stated in a press release: “More than one-third of the maximum cost was secured before selection of the design-build team and before any concepts or renderings were available,” which would amount to more than $2 million.

Officials did not publicly discuss the project again until January 2012, when construction began. By then, Remington said the foundation had raised $4.8 million for construction and $400,000 for the house’s maintenance.

Although Remington said $2 million was booked by December 2010, University Relations’ documents show only one donation at that time: a pledge of $25,000. An informal pledge of $2 million at the time was not booked until November 2011, according to the documents. The foundation had raised a total of $3.13 million by November 2011.

“If that implied the funds were paid at that time, that was not accurate,” Remington said, “but we knew that the commitment was absolutely firm and when we needed the funds we would receive them.”

By the end of January, the nonprofit had raised just more than $4 million in pledges and cash, including the $446,000 endowment to maintain the facility.

Officials secured about $7.65 million by July 25. Remington and his wife, Sapienza Barone, the president’s assistant, have contributed $25,000 toward the house.

Remington, who left his post in August, said the foundation has always looked upon the president’s residence as an asset to help the university raise even more money for the benefit of the campus and school.

“We look at the house as a means to an end,” he said.