Statement from UMSL
UNIVERSITY REPLACES GENERAL MANAGER
University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor Thomas George today terminated the employment of longtime KWMU (90.7 FM) general manager Patricia Wente. The action followed a review of financial and management issues raised by current and past employees and outside auditors.
“KWMU is a St. Louis treasure,” George said. “This action is being taken to protect that treasure for the university and the community.”
KWMU is a National Public Radio affiliate with a 100,000-watt signal. The station is housed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and licensed to The Curators of the University of Missouri.
George said that he has asked that KBIA (91.3 FM) General Manager Mike Dunn serve as interim general manager. Dunn has been the general manager of the public radio station on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus for 22 years.
“It is not unique that one UM campus loan expertise during times of transition and I’m thankful to MU for their cooperation,” George said. “I know that our award-winning radio staff here will work well with Mike as he oversees daily operations, as well as continues to review the station’s financial and management policies. We want to ensure that the proper checks and balances are in place to maintain our fiscal integrity and highest standards of professional behavior.”
6 comments:
By airing all the station's dirty laundry, you're just creating more problems for the current employees. And, you sound irrational doing it with phrases like "That Evil Woman" and exaggerations like saying that she wears a "dominatrix outfit" to work. Hardly true. You're just discrediting yourselves with this kind of talk that should be reserved for happy hour. She is a woman with a disease, namely alcoholism, and she needs help. You concerned newsroom employees and ex-employees would better help the station by participating in the review and patiently awaiting the results instead of making the situation worse in the meantime by damaging the reputation of the entire station.
What you are about to see below will come as a shock to you: Patty may actually survive this storm and remain at the top at KWMU. This is a possibility but in the end, it's going to take the entire community and corporate world to send a clear message that she needs to go. Therefore, here are a few options based on my experiences in the corporate and non-profit sector.
1. UM President Forsee is flooded with numerous emails and phone calls. Members of the public not affiliated with the station but who are current donors will be heard the most.
2. She's placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. An interim is named and eventually all the interviews result in her being slowly pushed out the door. Now this option sounds odd, but think about it: She gets a severance package of 6-12 months (sorry to say but that's the way it going to happen in a severance package deal with an individual who has been there for almost 20 yrs). From a PR perspective for the University, this is one of many viable options.
The only way a difference can be made is from people/companies who highly consider pulling time and bucks from the station and email the UM President and also let your Congress and Senators know. After all, public broadcasting does receive a slight percentage from the government. To all former employees, I feel for you but be happy where you are at. To all current employees, keep your head up. To everyone else reading this, you MUST email the UM President or your elected official for her to resign. Based on my experience in the general workforce, she won't just step down because of what is being written. She will hold on for dear life until someone else takes control of the matter. The odds of her staying at KWMU are still in play so take action today!
"Don't you mean to say "Concerned Ex-Employees of KWMU?" A little misleading, don't you think?"
I'm not an Ex-Employee. I'm a listener.
As for discrediting... she's a woman with a disease? Did alcoholism mandate misleading listeners and donors into thinking they were donating into matching funds?
The reputation of the entire station has been damaged, and I'm not giving another dime until there's transparency. Wente should seek help if she has a problem, but that doesn't excuse the crass behavior or the unethical (illegal?) management.
While I don't dispute the fact that the General Manager of KWMU is an alcoholic (she really needs to check into an alcohol rehab clinic), much of the discussion needs to center on her dealings with Capital Campaign consultant Michael Ostroff. Facts don't lie and billing records, according to RFT, show in July 2006 "the station put the consulting contract out for bid for a third time and awarded the work to Florida-based consultant Michael Ostroff, who charges the station a monthly fee of $19,500 — not including expenses. The author writes that those same billing records "show that in the months and weeks prior to Ostroff winning the bid, Wente approved at least three separate contracts, paying his firm $22,500 to review the capital campaign."
Here are a few questions that need answers because the relationship between her and the capital campaign consultant should be the real meat-and-bones of the investigation:
1. How did she meet Michael Ostroff and what is his background to Saint Louis?
2. Why pay his firm $22,500 to review the capital campaign before he won the bid? He's based in Boca Raton Florida and New York City. (also why is Florida a popular destination for her anyways...see the DUI charges from November 2007).
3. Capital campaigns seem not to be new to the station considering she authorized two separate consultants to be paid $100K in past years, so why then did she need someone to review the campaign again?
4. Will the legal team ultimately investigate the dealings between the General Manager of KWMU and the campaign consultant?
In my opinion, it sounds like the dealings between Patty and this capital campaign consultant are real fishy and follows a pattern of nepotism or some favor was exchanged in return for services and/or cash. If this is true, then bye-bye Patty and future fundraising mega-buck endeavors. The donors who committed the millions of dollars to the campaign should be furious as well as the general public & UM higher ups.
IN response to the anonymous person who feels that airing the dirty laundry creates problems for the current employees, you could not be more wrong. This is what it took to FINALLY get the University of Missouri to pay attention to UMSL's lack of oversight on this woman. The responsibility for this rests squarely on Ms. Wente and the upper league at UMSL. Countless employees and donors have raised red flags over the years only to have them swept under the rug. And they went through "proper" channels. We are talking about potentially illegal activities, here, not just petty things. I agree, that it is unfortunate that the RFT had to make such personal attacks about her attire and "management style", but it has nothing to do with her "management style" and everything to do with her ethics. At this point, with all that is coming out, she ought to pray that she only ends up in rehab, as opposed to jail.
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