Stevens Institute of Technology improving reputation under New Jersey-imposed financial oversight
The Star-Ledger
August 2, 2010
A year ago, Stevens Institute of Technology was rapidly spiraling out of financial control, according to a lawsuit filed by the state attorney general.
The president was earning an eye-popping $1.1 million a year and borrowing money from the university’s coffers to buy vacation houses in Vermont and on the Jersey Shore.
Other campus officials were falsifying the school’s books, squandering its endowment and borrowing money like mad while Stevens’ trustees fought over who was to blame, according to the 16-count civil suit filed last September.
But in January, the private university in Hoboken and the Attorney General’s Office made an unusual deal: The state would drop its legal fight if Stevens officials agreed to overhaul the school under the supervision of former state chief justice James Zazzali.
Six months later, the agreement appears to be working. Last week Zazzali issued a largely positive report to the attorney general on the transformation of the 140-year-old university.
