Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Aug 13, 2024 6:31:48 GMT -5
Okay, the Globe has put two reporters on the case.
And they have read NP's original complaint, so the cancellation of the dedication and concert is featured. I had forgotten that Cardinal O'Malley was also invited.
www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/12/metro/holy-cross-big-donor-squaring-off-in-court/
And they have read NP's original complaint, so the cancellation of the dedication and concert is featured. I had forgotten that Cardinal O'Malley was also invited.
www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/12/metro/holy-cross-big-donor-squaring-off-in-court/
The College of the Holy Cross is locked in a legal battle with a former trustee seeking to
recover some $21 million he donated for a campus performing arts center that bears his
name, claiming that the Catholic liberal arts school repeatedly delayed construction of
the project and rebuffed his efforts to learn details of how his money was being handled.
Holy Cross “did not honor its agreement” to build the center promptly, Prior alleges in
the civil complaint. Instead, in 2015 the school’s president told trustees that a planned
athletic facility needed an additional $3 million to comply with a school policy of
delaying construction on a project until at least two-thirds of the costs were covered by
pledged donations, according to the complaint.
Although he had no interest in supporting the athletic facility, Prior donated the $3
million so it would not “act as a block on the pursuit of the” arts center, the complaint
said.
“Nevertheless, inexplicably, Holy Cross continued to delay active development of a
[performing arts center] for approximately four more years,” the lawsuit said.
The dispute centers around the construction of the Prior Performing Arts Center, which
opened in late 2022. Former trustee Cornelius B. Prior Jr., a 1956 graduate of the
Worcester college, donated $18 million between 2012 and 2016 toward the project,
according to a lawsuit he filed last year in US District Court in Worcester. The suit is
pending. It was first reported by the newsletter Contrarian Boston.
Holy Cross “did not honor its agreement” to build the center promptly, Prior alleges in
the civil complaint. Instead, in 2015 the school’s president told trustees that a planned
athletic facility needed an additional $3 million to comply with a school policy of
delaying construction on a project until at least two-thirds of the costs were covered by
pledged donations, according to the complaint.
Although he had no interest in supporting the athletic facility, Prior donated the $3
million so it would not “act as a block on the pursuit of the” arts center, the complaint
said.
“Nevertheless, inexplicably, Holy Cross continued to delay active development of a
[performing arts center] for approximately four more years,” the lawsuit said.
On Monday, the college’s president, Vincent D. Rougeau, flatly disputed Prior’s
allegations.
“I can’t tell you how deeply saddened we are about this situation,” Rougeau said in a
letter to the campus community. “The donor’s allegations are simply untrue.”
Rougeau said Prior, whom he referred to only as “the donor,” was a trustee when he
made a $25 million pledge for the performing arts center. Prior left the board in June
2021 and was “intimately involved” in planning for the construction, Rougeau said.
“He frequently lobbied for choices that caused the project’s cost to balloon, ultimately
growing from an original estimate of up to $57 million — for which he pledged $25
million in support — to a final project cost of $109 million,” Rougeau said.
He disputed the assertion that the school delayed the project.
“The trustees, including the donor, had unanimously approved a requirement that two
thirds of the funding required for any building project — not just this project — must be
raised before the College could put shovels in the ground,” Rougeau said. “These cost
increases caused by the donor’s choices extended the timeline and the necessity to secure
sufficient funds from additional generous donors before the project could begin.”
Lawyers for Prior, a retired telecom executive who resides in St. Thomas in the US Virgin
Islands, and Holy Cross had a hearing Aug. 2 in federal court in Worcester, where
Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy heard arguments on the college’s motion to move
the dispute into mediation and arbitration.
Hennessy took the motion under advisement. Another hearing is scheduled for Aug. 30,
records show.
In his complaint, Prior also referenced an opening concert at the center that had been
planned for December 2022. Prior said he had invited a number of prominent friends to
attend the event, including architect Liz Diller, three US Supreme Court justices, Cardinal
Sean O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese, and former deans at Harvard Law
School, where Prior graduated in 1962.
The college abruptly canceled the concert, Prior alleged, after he requested a meeting
with college officials to discuss how his funds were being handled.
Rather than honor his request for a meeting, Prior “received an aggressive conference
call the next day from two representatives of the Executive Committee demanding that
he pay an additional” $7 million within five days or the concert would be canceled, the
complaint alleged.
Prior said he made “significant efforts” to put together stock holdings valued at $10
million for the project, but later learned the college had already canceled the concert.
But Rougeau framed the $7 million request as the final installment of Prior’s initial $25
million pledge for the arts center, described at the time as the largest single donation in
school history.
“As construction neared completion and the deadline approached for the final payment
on his pledge, we made repeated attempts to remind the donor of his obligation
beginning months before it came due, and thereafter, to give the donor every opportunity
to fulfill his promise to Holy Cross,” Rougeau said. “Unfortunately, he did not.”
In his complaint, Prior said he wants his donations returned to the Prior Family
Foundation, which would “re-direct” the funds to another charitable cause, plus damages
for income that he could’ve collected from the “reasonable investment of the funds” he
donated, records show.
Prior’s lawyer, Steven M. Cowley, said his client’s claim “arises out of his position that the
College did not honor its agreement to proceed with the development of a [performing
arts center] as a priority when it unilaterally refused to move forward with the center
because of a lack of sufficient funding for the athletic center.”
recover some $21 million he donated for a campus performing arts center that bears his
name, claiming that the Catholic liberal arts school repeatedly delayed construction of
the project and rebuffed his efforts to learn details of how his money was being handled.
Holy Cross “did not honor its agreement” to build the center promptly, Prior alleges in
the civil complaint. Instead, in 2015 the school’s president told trustees that a planned
athletic facility needed an additional $3 million to comply with a school policy of
delaying construction on a project until at least two-thirds of the costs were covered by
pledged donations, according to the complaint.
Although he had no interest in supporting the athletic facility, Prior donated the $3
million so it would not “act as a block on the pursuit of the” arts center, the complaint
said.
“Nevertheless, inexplicably, Holy Cross continued to delay active development of a
[performing arts center] for approximately four more years,” the lawsuit said.
The dispute centers around the construction of the Prior Performing Arts Center, which
opened in late 2022. Former trustee Cornelius B. Prior Jr., a 1956 graduate of the
Worcester college, donated $18 million between 2012 and 2016 toward the project,
according to a lawsuit he filed last year in US District Court in Worcester. The suit is
pending. It was first reported by the newsletter Contrarian Boston.
Holy Cross “did not honor its agreement” to build the center promptly, Prior alleges in
the civil complaint. Instead, in 2015 the school’s president told trustees that a planned
athletic facility needed an additional $3 million to comply with a school policy of
delaying construction on a project until at least two-thirds of the costs were covered by
pledged donations, according to the complaint.
Although he had no interest in supporting the athletic facility, Prior donated the $3
million so it would not “act as a block on the pursuit of the” arts center, the complaint
said.
“Nevertheless, inexplicably, Holy Cross continued to delay active development of a
[performing arts center] for approximately four more years,” the lawsuit said.
On Monday, the college’s president, Vincent D. Rougeau, flatly disputed Prior’s
allegations.
“I can’t tell you how deeply saddened we are about this situation,” Rougeau said in a
letter to the campus community. “The donor’s allegations are simply untrue.”
Rougeau said Prior, whom he referred to only as “the donor,” was a trustee when he
made a $25 million pledge for the performing arts center. Prior left the board in June
2021 and was “intimately involved” in planning for the construction, Rougeau said.
“He frequently lobbied for choices that caused the project’s cost to balloon, ultimately
growing from an original estimate of up to $57 million — for which he pledged $25
million in support — to a final project cost of $109 million,” Rougeau said.
He disputed the assertion that the school delayed the project.
“The trustees, including the donor, had unanimously approved a requirement that two
thirds of the funding required for any building project — not just this project — must be
raised before the College could put shovels in the ground,” Rougeau said. “These cost
increases caused by the donor’s choices extended the timeline and the necessity to secure
sufficient funds from additional generous donors before the project could begin.”
Lawyers for Prior, a retired telecom executive who resides in St. Thomas in the US Virgin
Islands, and Holy Cross had a hearing Aug. 2 in federal court in Worcester, where
Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy heard arguments on the college’s motion to move
the dispute into mediation and arbitration.
Hennessy took the motion under advisement. Another hearing is scheduled for Aug. 30,
records show.
In his complaint, Prior also referenced an opening concert at the center that had been
planned for December 2022. Prior said he had invited a number of prominent friends to
attend the event, including architect Liz Diller, three US Supreme Court justices, Cardinal
Sean O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese, and former deans at Harvard Law
School, where Prior graduated in 1962.
The college abruptly canceled the concert, Prior alleged, after he requested a meeting
with college officials to discuss how his funds were being handled.
Rather than honor his request for a meeting, Prior “received an aggressive conference
call the next day from two representatives of the Executive Committee demanding that
he pay an additional” $7 million within five days or the concert would be canceled, the
complaint alleged.
Prior said he made “significant efforts” to put together stock holdings valued at $10
million for the project, but later learned the college had already canceled the concert.
But Rougeau framed the $7 million request as the final installment of Prior’s initial $25
million pledge for the arts center, described at the time as the largest single donation in
school history.
“As construction neared completion and the deadline approached for the final payment
on his pledge, we made repeated attempts to remind the donor of his obligation
beginning months before it came due, and thereafter, to give the donor every opportunity
to fulfill his promise to Holy Cross,” Rougeau said. “Unfortunately, he did not.”
In his complaint, Prior said he wants his donations returned to the Prior Family
Foundation, which would “re-direct” the funds to another charitable cause, plus damages
for income that he could’ve collected from the “reasonable investment of the funds” he
donated, records show.
Prior’s lawyer, Steven M. Cowley, said his client’s claim “arises out of his position that the
College did not honor its agreement to proceed with the development of a [performing
arts center] as a priority when it unilaterally refused to move forward with the center
because of a lack of sufficient funding for the athletic center.”