What Didn’t Work: Tongue-Tied at the Top

From the time he arrived on campus, Ladner’s financial habits invited controversy. For example, one student established a Web site to highlight the president’s excesses. Ladner unsuccessfully sued to have the site shut down.

Although most board members treated students’ concerns as rogue complaints, a few spoke out. Trustee Robert Pence questioned Ladner’s spending in 1996, for which he was removed from the audit committee. “I think I was asking too many questions,” he said in a letter to the board. Another trustee, Paul Wolff , repeatedly asked for a full account of Ladner’s spending. But Ladner did not provide the requested information, and the board continued to ignore early signs of the president’s excessive spending.