University Politics

Syracuse University files lawsuit seeking accounting of trust fund money

Syracuse University has filed a lawsuit for information relating to where money from a trust fund, set up by a late professor, went.

William Fleming, an SU professor from 1945 to 1975, left about $2.8 million to the William Fleming Educational Trust to fund three professorships in the department of fine arts, which he was integral in founding. The money set aside by Fleming was to pay the salaries of the three professors for 20 years.

However, two trustees of the fund gave word to SU last year that the $2.8 million had decreased to $963,000, according to Syracuse.com, and the trust would fund only one of the three professors starting this academic year.

SU asked the two trustees, Paul Curtin and Frank Macomber, for written financial reports of the fund, saying the university was entitled to the accounting as a beneficiary of the trust, according to Syracuse.com.

SU has not received any reports, according to Syracuse.com.



“The university is concerned that principal and income of the trust may have been used for purposes that are not appropriate, and that commissions taken by the trustees may have been improperly computed,” SU lawyer Richard Weber wrote in court documents, according to Syracuse.com.

Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs, said in an email that he can’t comment on current or pending lawsuits.

The case was filed in Onondaga County Surrogate Court and arguments are scheduled to begin on June 4, according to Syracuse.com.





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