GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK
WESTFIELD – Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was in Westfield Monday afternoon and spoke to The Westfield News about the once brewing, now boiling over, controversy at Westfield State University.
With University President Dr. Evan Dobelle formally filing a lawsuit against virtually the entire board of trustees last week, Patrick, who has spoken out in support of the school’s board of trustees in placing Dobelle on administrative leave with pay and in the freezing of funds to the school by Board of Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland, reiterated that support again at a democratic campaign event at The Tavern restaurant.
“That lawsuit is a tactic,” Patrick said, before defending the board. “From my experience in practice, telling the truth is not against the law.”
Patrick, a graduate of Harvard Law School whose experience includes practicing law with the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and as Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Civil Rights under President Bill Clinton, would allude that there are more details of Dobelle’s lavish spending which will come out in court soon.
“There’s some unsettling and I think in some cases, uncomfortable, truths that have been told and more that will be told,” Patrick said. “I think the board has been very deliberate and there’s been a lot of process.”
As to whether Westfield State can find a silver lining in the controversy, Patrick didn’t seem optimistic.
“I don’t see how this has a happy outcome, I’m sorry to say,” said Patrick, before going on to add that Dobelle has “done a lot at the university and the city.”
“But these are serious, serious charges and serious facts, and they haven’t been properly answered,” he said.
Defendants in the lawsuit filed by Dobelle’s attorney Ross Garber include Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Freeland, Chairman of the Westfield State Board of Trustees John Flynn III, and board members Kevin Queenin and Elizabeth Scheibel, in addition to all members of the board’s executive committee, James B. Cox, the lawyer for the board of trustees, as well as the accounting firm of O’Connor and Drew, and the law firm of Rudin and Rudman, based in Braintree and Boston, respectively.
