The report stated that Dobelle ran up excessive bills for personal expenses on university credit cards and spent funds from the Westfield State Foundation Inc. “indiscriminately and with little or no regard for the mission or financial viability of the foundation.” Watch video
WESTFIELD - While discussing the “dust up” over his coast-to-coast and overseas travel, Westfield State University President Evan S. Dobelle shared a lesson last week from his 40 years in education and politics.
“I’m never about yesterday,” said the 68-year-old former mayor of Pittsfield and president of Trinity College and the University of Hawaii.
“I’m always about tomorrow," he added.
For Dobelle, the past - in the form of credit card bills from London, Bangkok, Vienna and dozens of other cities - was harder to dismiss Friday when state education officials questioned him and the school’s Board of Trustees during back-to-back meetings in Boston.
The meetings came one day after the state Inspector General’s Office called on the trustees to exercise stricter oversight over Dobelle’s future travel and scrutinize the “return on investment” on trips he and other school officials have taken since 2008.
In a letter to the trustees, Inspector General Glenn A. Cunha said Dobelle ran up excessive bills for personal expenses on university credit cards and spent funds from the Westfield State Foundation Inc. “indiscriminately and with little or no regard for the mission or financial viability of the foundation.”
The developments raise questions about Dobelle’s future at the university and put a spotlight on the trustees, who offered Dobelle praise and support during their Aug. 28 meeting.
Asked whether Dobelle can continue as president Friday afternoon, trustees President John F. Flynn III responded: “That’s a great question.”
“There has to be some real soul searching and some decisions that we all have to make - the president and the board,” Flynn said.
For Flynn, the inspector general’s report offered a belated second to his motion on Aug. 28 to curtail Dobelle’s travel until the next meeting in October.
After hearing no support for the motion, Flynn withdrew it.
The board meets again on Oct. 24 and is expected to consider the travel violations raised by the school’s auditors in a report that was finished in March and released in late August.
The firm of O’Connor & Drew concluded the president and top university officials violated travel and credit-card policies on trips to London, Vienna, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Miami Beach and other national and international destinations.
Expenses from trips to China, Thailand, Vietnam, Spain and other countries were also billed without proper documentation to the Westfield State Foundation, the school’s fundraising arm, according to the firm.
Dobelle and others were faulted for using school credit cards for personal expenses, for changing or canceling flights; and for running up costs for meals and hotel rooms that could be perceived as excessive.
If board members were reluctant to criticize Dobelle last month, state Commissioner of Higher Education Richard M. Freehand took the opportunity during a public meeting with university trustees before Dobelle’s private session Friday.
Freeland accused Dobelle of violating state ethics laws by repeatedly charging personal trips to university credit cards.
He also urged the board to take stronger action in holding Dobelle and school administrators accountable.
Many of the incidents occurred between 2008 and 2011, before tighter travel restrictions imposed in 2012 and 2013 sharply reduced spending, the auditing firm found. During a 75-minute interview Wednesday with The Republican’s editorial board, Dobelle repeated earlier statements that he repaid the university for all personal expenses and said “not a dollar” is missing.
“I understand and regret deeply the oversights and mistakes,” Dobelle said.
Friday Dobelle said he had been following the practice of the institution. "If the practice was wrong, remember .. I self-reported this."
No allegations of theft or fraud have been made regarding the expenditures, but the auditors said record-keeping was so poor that distinguishing between personal and university-related expenses was sometimes impossible.
Dobelle said the spending paid off in increased donations, a distinguished speaker series, new undergraduate majors, expansion of the international exchange program and construction on campus.
Regardless of the current controversy, Westfield State alumnus Tracey A. Pinto, Class of 1985, said former students are impressed with changes during Dobelle’s tenure.
“We used to be a sleepy little school; now we’re like a private university. I wish it was like that when I was there,” said Pinto, a Carlisle resident.
Staff reporter Dan Ring contributed to this report.