Newspaper Page Text
Monday, November 11
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 3
CAMPUS
Fired Admissions Director files $2 Million Lawsuit against College
By Saeed Ahmed
Staff Writer
Morehouse College
frequently inflates its
freshman class test scores, and
employs an admissions
director who spends months
away from work refereeing
basketball games using college
funds.
The claims are made by
former Director of
Admissions, Dr. Milford
Greene, in a $2 million lawsuit
filed against the institution
earlier this year.
Greene, who served as
Director during the '94-'95
school year, alleges he was
fired when he refused to
manipulate SAT and ACT
scores, and confronted his
associate — and current
Admissions Director—Andre
Patillo for abuse of funds.
A lawyer for the college
disputes the claims and said
Greene was let go for non
performance.
"The facts clearly indicate
he was not doing his job," said
Attorney Jefferey Thompkins.
"The year Dr. Greene was
Admissions Director, there
were fewer applications and
acceptances than [Morehouse]
has had before. We were
FILE
Dr. Milford Greene says he is
suing the college only for
what it owes him.
running the risk of not having
a freshman class at all."
But Greene says he is not
to blame for that.
"Morehouse said I was the
person directly responsible for
the size of the class. And
because the class was small,
they couldn't find adequate
funding for the school and so
couldn't give people raises,"
said Greene."That is simply
not true."
Inflated test scores
According to the lawsuit,
when Greene's recruiting
efforts were challenged and he
was said to have brought in
"too low a class in terms of
SAT/ACT scores," he went
back and re-calculated the test
scores for comparable
incoming classes.
What he found, Greene
says, were scores not much
different from the ones he was
criticized for.
Greene claims the scores
of '92-93 did not reflect the
much publicized average SAT
score of 1012 and ACT score of
24. They were actually 981 and
22 respectively. Similarly, the
1026 SAT and 24 ACT scores
of '93 and '94 were also
erroneous, the correct figures
being 990 and 23 respectively.
During his tenure, the SAT
scores were 960 and 985 for '94
and '95 respectively.
"The college has
consistently been claiming
higher scores, which enables it
to recruit better students,
ensuring higher tuition and
funding," said Greene. "But
FILE
Director of Admissions Andre
Patillo says his work as
referee has never interfered
with his commitment to the
college.
let's just say that no amount of
calculations I did got me the
kind of numbers they were
claiming."
When asked about the
differences, Attorney
Thompkins said the school is
"without sufficient knowledge
to [address] these allegations."
In the lawsuit, Greene
claims he then met with Vice
President for Academic
Affairs, Weldon Jackson, to
discuss his findings but was
told, "Well, you know all
schools cook the score,"
implying he should do the
same. Jackson, who is now
Provost of Manhattan College,
"strenuously denies" saying
so.
Confrontation with Patillo
Greene says a second
reason for his dismissal was
his recommendation that the
school not renew Andre
Patillo's contract.
"Patillo is a professional
referee for the NCAA, and
between October and April
every year, he's essentially
gone refereeing games, using
college funds," Greene said. "I
told him this can't continue.
Since he was the chief
recruiter, his absenteeism was
affecting recruitment."
Continued on page 5
The Shortcomings of
Homecoming %
Continued from page 1
Although advertisements
read "$5 Before 11:00 p.m. - $8
After 11:00 p.m.," the SGAsays
the doors were closed around
eleven. "Here is where the
trouble began," suggests Tony
Woods, security person at the
Omni Hotel. Because of the
swelling crowd, damages
were incurred by the Omni
Hotel for doors, furnace coils,
and furniture. However,
Director of Alumni Affairs
Henry Goodgame, who was
present at the facility, believes
the damages "were not
extensive."
Latasha Amisia, a
Sophomore Biochemical Major
Dennis Thomas/SPECIAL
Antonio Johnson and SGA
staffers parade in the Volvo
that Stephen Epps X totaled in
an accident.
at Spelman, describes the
situation outside the hotel. "I
was just squished. A girl was
trampled. If they had never
shut the doors ... they would
never have had the problems
that they had."
Johnson admits, "It was
the outside which we had no
control over... [but] that's the
Omni or the City of Atlanta's
fault. The inside of the hotel
was always under control,"
concludes Johnson.
Also in dispute are
missing funds collected at the
event. The event should have
brought in 10,000 to 15,000
dollars based on
attendance.
However, funds
that have been
accounted for to
date total to $1,900.
Representatives from Omega
Psi Phi and Delta Sigma Theta
have both vowed to pursue the
SGA for their portion of the
missing proceeds.
Soiree at the Ritz
SGA officials have also
been accused of throwing a
private party for themselves at
Ritz Carlton Downtown
Wednesday, October 16. "The
purpose of the suite we rented
was for a soiree and a thank-
you party for staff, friends and
for students," says SGA
president Antonio Johnson.
The Ritz-Carlton reports that
$1013.75 was spent by the SGA
for the evening." However,
less than 60 people attended.
The SGA alleges that it
distributed a limited number
of flyers for the Ritz-Carlton
affair during Coronation and
announced the event during a
Jam on the Yard earlier that
day. "All students were
invited," says Antonio
Johnson.
However, the soiree was
not listed among the planned
events on the SGA's
homecoming calendar. When
asked if he knew about the
Soiree, SGA Advisor John
Bellamy explains that he did
not recall hearing about any
party at the Ritz.
The Fashion Show: Oversold
or Underplanned
Estimates show
approximately 200 students
with tickets were not admitted
to the Fashion Show Tuesday,
October 15. The SGA blames
Morehouse Security and the
Fashion Show Director for
having to turn away students.
"Morehouse College Police let
in people who didn't pay for
tickets . . . [and] the Director
let in roughly 200 people who
didn't pay," said SGA
President Antonio Johnson.
"This prevented ticket holders
from getting in." Johnson also
blames the Business Office
who "sold tickets ... without
any accounting."
While both the SGA and
the Business Office agree that
only 1,800 tickets were sold,
the Business Office has a very
different account of what
occurred. "I don't think that
the facility was completely
full," said Jim Campbell,
Director of Special Projects.
He estimates that there were
nearly 250 seats still available.
Many students left outside
wondered if the whole
incident could not have been
avoided by having the doors
opened earlier. SGA President
Antonio Johnson admits the
doors were
opened late
"because [the
contractors]
were doing some
last minute things that should
have been done two hours ago
... I think [the tardiness] could
have been prevented had there
been better planning on the
contractors' part." However,
Johnson admits the
contractors ultimately report
to him.
Comedy Concert Minus
Adele Givens
Although billed as a
combined performance by
Adele Givens and Jamie Foxx,
the Comedy Concert
Thursday, October 17, was
performed solely by Jamie
Foxx and his intro comedian,
Spike. "I paid for Adele Givens
and Jamie Foxx, not just Jamie
Foxx," said Sophomore
Marketing Major Quinton
Adams.
Adele Givens signed a
contract to perform according
to SGA, but opted out because
of another higher-paying
performance. Givens notified
the SGA of her decision five
Dennis Thomas/SPECIAL
Disappointed fashion show
ticketholders make the best of
a bad situation
days before the event. SGA
Chief of Staff Roderick
Hardamon agreed that things
did not go as planned. "We
had to worry about concerts,
[and] about using our
lawyers," said Hardamon.
Adam Smith, attorney for
Morehouse College, disagrees.
"There was no contract with
Adele Givens," Smith said.
"She couldn't perform on the
dates we wanted. They
weren't good for her."
The SGA also was forced
to pay an additional $7,000 to
settle a potential breach of
contract issue with Jamie Foxx.
The contract specified that
advertising was not to extend
beyond the AUC. But the SGA
had public announcements on
V-103 and Hot 97.5.
Louis Clotman also
contributed to this article
“There is an alleged offering missing and we are going to have to take
the SGA to court for misappropriation of funds.”
Kevin Ross