WESTFIELD (WWLP) – Westfield State University wants a fresh start after their legal battle with their former president Dr. Evan Dobelle over his spending.
Westfield State’s next president, Ramon Torrecilha, will begin his new job in January. Westfield State spent $117,000 on the search.
UMass spent $148,000 to find their president. UMass-Lowell spent $97,000 to find a chancellor, someone who already worked there. The Massachusetts College Of Liberal Arts has spent at least $90,000 in a recent search for a new president.
Robert Connolly with the UMass President’s office told said that one difference between UMass and Westfield State is that their search required open forums on all five campuses.
Eighty-eight percent, or roughly $102,000, of Westfield State’s costs were to hire a presidential search firm and pay for their travel.
“Much like you want to cast a wide net with potential candidates for president, you want to do the same with a national search firm because they have contacts across the country and, in fact, internationally,” said Westfield State Trustee Elizabeth Scheibel.
Scheibel said the school already put some safeguards in place to make sure this president can’t spend as freely as Dobelle did.
In July 2014, the state’s inspector general accused former Dobelle of lavish spending and using the school’s credit cards for his personal use. Dobelle resigned and eventually dropped a lawsuit, agreeing to pay the state back $185,000.
“We’re going to make sure to work with the new president to be the best university we can be and minimize any risk of that happening again,” said Scheibel.
Scheibel says the school already moved from credit cards to procurement cards to have more control over spending and there are limits on those cards. They have also hired a risk manager.
Westfield State also used a different firm for this presidential search than the previous one.
Here are the costs of the Westfield State presidential search:
$90,550 – Presidential Search Firm Retainer/Fees
$12,381.71 – Presidential Search Firm Travel
$7,169.60 – Food
$4,310.50 – Advertising
$3,511.35 – Space Rental for Interviews
$117,923.16 – Total as of 12/4/15
