Last updated on 2014.05.06
Gordon Howie starts our week off right by airing Part 2 of our conversation about the EB-5 scandal, wherein we discuss the state documents Joop Bollen took AWOL and other details of the public–private transition of the EB-5 program:
You can view Part 1 here.
Fascinating stuff, Cory. I'm thinking you and Gordie could have your own regular show - think Hannity and Colmes! You two both have good rapport, but your segments are too short. Why just five minutes, or is his show always short like that?
Five minutes is Ed Randazzo's editorial rule. I like longer segments, just as I like longer blog posts, but I also understand the challenges of editing, uploading, and keeping folks' attention on the Intertubes.
Good job of presenting the twists and turns of a rather twisted series of events, Corey.
While the digging keeps revealing the multitude of people involved in what turned into the EB-5 scandal, the role of the Board of Regents and local economic development organizations has not been fully broached. It goes back to the Janklow administration and its idea that the universities should be economic development agencies. At various times Janklow instructed SDSM&T to investigate using saw mill waste to make a substitute for road salt (despite the fact that the U.S. Wood Products Lab in Madison, WI, had shown the process to be too expensive to be feasible) and an epoxy type paint for highway markings. Janklow converted the Regents into a board composed totally of people representing business interests. Currently, there is not a person on the Board who represents the academic aspects of running colleges and universities. It is in this context that the South Dakota International Business Institute, directed by Joop Bollen, was conceived and implemented. From the time of Janklow, the Regents hired a series of presidents for NSU who acted as Regents henchmen, definitely not to act as academic leaders. NSU's de facto chief executive was Harvey Jewett, and when the SDIBI was instituted, most faculty assumed it was at his behest. His presence lurks in the history of that agency and the involvement of his law partner Jeff Sveen in the EB-5 is evidence of that relationship. The current president of NSU is saddled with the task of straightening out the results of his predecessors obedience to Regental rule.
The Regents' interest in converting the universities to overt economic agencies was declared when the faculty was informed that the Regents were owners of any intellectual properties that the faculty developed. In order to maintain some semblance of academic autonomy and freedom, many faculty allied theselves with outside organizations to insure some control over their research and publication. I published all my work through the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature, a fact cited in a denial for promotion. I never bothered to apply for promotion again.
The mystery of the records of the SDIBI and the South Dakota Regional Center was most likely done with the knowledge, if not the direct order, from the Regents office. The current president realized that the agency had no academic function and no business using university funds and the campus as a cover for its activities.
The current status of those missing records is probably well known by someone in the Regents office. Those who are trying to restore some academic status to NSU probably have not been told.
So that's what happened to Northern. I got my B. S. in education in 1976. I lived in Hecla, NE of Abdn, as a pastor in the late 20th century. I spent some time on the campus for various events. Glancing at the school paper and alumni news it was crystal clear that the atmosphere was very different. I wondered what happened. It's sad.
Thanks for the info Dr. Newquist.