Roger Williams Law School in Uproar over Board Chair's Use of the N-word

The board member for forty years, chair of eighteen years (and major donor to the school) has resigned, claiming it was because of his age (80), but others on and off campus are agitating for a complete board shake up and removal of his name from the law school. 

The Providence Journal (Jennifer D. Jordan) is following the brouhaha around the resignation of Ralph R. Papitto from the board of Roger Williams University (EIN 05-0277222 Form 990) and its law school (EIN 05-0465628 Form 990). 

It's an unusal situation for an $120 million institution, because Mr. Papitto has chaired the board for eighteen years, he has been on the board for almost forty.  He has been a major benefactor of the school as a result of his fortune as the founder of Nortek, Inc. (once listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but currently privately held).  Many of the board members are relatives and business associates—the new chair is Richard L. Bready, currently the chair of Nortek.  And back in 1996 the board changed the name of the law school to: Roger Williams University Ralph R. Papitto School of Law (or maybe not, as we will see). 

The problem started when the school's accrediting agency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (EIN 04-6112618 Form 990), issed a notice of concern, a step on the way to a finding that an organization does not meet standards, over issues relating to board diversity, adherence to its own bylaws, and the strength of board committees.  In a board meeting discussing the notice, (former) board member Barbara H. Roberts, who was Mr. Papitto's cardiologist, told the Providence Journal:

He {Papitto] started saying, "They want us to add more poor kids and they want us to add more, well, I can’t call them n------, I learned that from Imus."

Another board member, Joseph A. Caramadre, corraborated Dr. Robert's claim.  At a subsequent emergency board meeting a week later, Dr. Roberts, Mr. Caramadre, and another board member, Sally E. Lapides, called for Mr. Papitto to resign (Dr. Roberts provided a copy of her board statement).  After that, the three dissident board members were told that they were voted off the board by action of its executive committee. 

In a letter that followed Mr. Papitto explained that the executive committee had powers "co-extensive" with the board, and implied that while he would not be forced to resign, he had decided to do so anyway.  He also said that he was merely proposing that the dissident board members be removed along with several other trustees, not all of whom had complained about his remarks. 

What followed the publication of this story in the Providence Journal (based on Dr. Robert's disclosures) was pressure to drop Mr. Papitto's name from the law school.  The faculty is planning to meet on the issue.  Until now the faculty has been mostly quiet, as most faculty of the law school lack tenure. 

But what I find amusing about this is that a search of the Rhode Island corporation records reveals that the law school name was never actually changed.  The only official name change was from Roger Williams College School of Law to Roger Williams University School of Law, filed in 1992.

There are some other interesting features of the Form 990: 

• The university reports that the president and CFO are three-quarter time jobs and the law school reports the same two individuals as one-quarter time positions, but neither form mentions the existence of the other. 
• The most current available Form 990s for both are from June, 2004.  The 2005 forms are over a year and a half late. 
• Both schools shows substantial expenses labeled miscellaneous:  $3,778,000 for the university and $626,416 for the law school. 
• None of the family or business ties among the directors are explained on the form (although this requirement did not come into effect until subsequent years). 

What this suggests to me is that the IRS really needs to take a close look at all of the Form 990 filings for organizations reporting over $100 million in income (there are less than 2,000 of them) for completeness, timeliness of filing, and follow-up on any peculiarities. 

Thanks to Beth Gazley of Indiana University for posting a link about this story on the Arnova email list.

Comments

[George Cook]

A former Roger William University board chairman Ralph Pappito recently used the N Word during a board meeting on diversity of all things. Mr. Pappito has since apologized and asked that his name be removed from the law school due to protest from people in Rhode Island and more importantly from the faculty and students.Some interesting notes:

3 board members who complained were removed from the board.

According the the university president this is not the first time he has made racist remarks.

His request to have his name removed has been granted.

Please click the picture below of Matt Jerzyjk the editor of the blog Rhode Island Future http://rifuture.org/blog/ and one of the student activist who started a petition for the name change and who made sure this story didn't die. Congrats and kudos to Mr. Jerzyk.

JUST CLICK LINK BELOW TO HEAR MATT'S INTERVIEW

http://www.letstalkhonestly.mymprofitsystems.com/raceinamerica.html

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