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The closely guarded internal financial workings of the Sonoma State Academic Foundation may be about to see the light of public review.
Robert Karlsrud, dean emeritus of the SSU School of Social Sciences, is concerned that the administration of the Sonoma State University Academic Foundation is concentrated in just a few top officials at the school, and particularly that the finances of the campus and its foundation are directed by the same individual: Laurence Furukawa-Schleret, SSU's Vice President for Administration & Finance and Chief Financial Officer.
The high priority given to fund-raising for the construction of the Green Music Center by the Arminana administration has rankled many on campus, especially as the cost of the structure sopared to $120 million. The partially completed building, seen here earlier in the construction process, still needs around $20 million to be finished, and even then, says Karlsrud, it may be a fiscal drai for many years to follow.
SB 218, by San Francisco State Senator Leeland Yee, was prompted in part by the public disclosure of the SSU Foundation’s loans to a former board member. The bill has passed the state legislature and is now awaiting the governor’s signature to become law. Dean Karlsrud says the campus community is also waiting to see if the measure has any real teeth.
Karlsrud's detailed critique of the Foundation's fiscal operations was published online by the Empire Report.
