An article in The New York Times appearing in print tomorrow contains shocking allegations of a money-misuse scandal at Columbia. Professor of Sociology Sudir Venkatesh appears to have been internally investigated for illicitly spending over $200,000 in school funds, and paid back only $13,000. An excerpt from The New York Times gives the details:
All told, the auditors listed $19,405 in “inappropriate transactions” — like $1,514 in town car charges — and $221,960 in expenses with “insufficient documentation” — like payments to unnamed research subjects…Professor Venkatesh directed $52,328 to someone without any ‘documented evidence of work performed.’ …He charged Columbia for town cars to take him around, to take his fiancée home from work one late night, to take someone — it is not specified whom — from Professor Venkatesh’s address to a building that houses a nail salon and a psychic. All told, auditors questioned expenses amounting to $241,364.83.
The Times did note that “The documents do not indicate what judgment Columbia administrators reached about the audit, or what actions, if any, they took as a result.”
Venkatesh via ChigacoMag
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