Daily Egyptian WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
SINCE 1916
VOL. 101 ISSUE 45
SIU athletics running on SIU chancellor used university cumulative deficit of $26 million money to move daughter’s home BRIAN MUNOZ | @BrianMMunoz
SIU athletics is running a cumulative deficit of more than $26 million, according to documents obtained by the Daily Egyptian under a Freedom of Information Act request and interviews. The cumulative operational or “day-to-day” deficit rose from $4.7 million in 2013 to $19.6 million by June 2017. During the 2013 fiscal year, a loan from the university system to SIU athletics added $8.6 million to the athletics deficit, Judith Marshall, SIUC executive director of administration and finance, said. The loan was to help pay off renovations for SIU Arena, Saluki Stadium and Itchy Jones Stadium, Marshall said. She said bond sales did not cover the full cost of the new stadium and the renovations to
the arena and Itchy Jones Stadium. “The president's office agreed to loan the money internally that they are paying back,” Marshall said. “They do pay interest – determined by the president's office.” The financial documents, which outline revenue and expenditures in athletics show football as the most expensive intercollegiate athletic team at the university. The football program lost roughly $2.6 million during the 2017 fiscal year and lost roughly $9.4 million during the four-year snapshot the Daily Egyptian analyzed. During the 2017 fiscal year, men’s basketball lost the university $966,183, women’s basketball lost the university $998,998 and all other intercollegiate athletics combined added nearly $4.8 million to the athletics deficit. Please see STORY | 8
ANNA SPOERRE | @AnnaSpoerre
One of the households SIU Chancellor Carlo Montemagno moved with university money was one in which his daughter and son-in-law lived. SIU spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith confirmed that Montemagno's daughter and son-in-law lived in the second home, which she defined as a "furnished rental." Montemagno has since refunded SIU $11,146.42 for the moving costs of the second household in addition to $4,930.03 he paid upfront to the moving company after exceeding the $61,000 in moving expenses allotted to him by the university, Goldsmith said. On Thursday, the chancellor released a statement regarding a “misunderstanding” related to moving expenses gathered to
move the two homes, which were located on the same block. This announcement was made “in the interest of transparency,” the statement read. On Feb. 2, the Daily Egyptian filed a Freedom of Information Act requesting documents related to the chancellor’s moving expenses. On Feb. 9, SIU’s FOIA office requested a five-day-extension and released the documents on Friday. Montemagno’s original employment contract of $61,000 in moving expenses was meant to cover “actual costs of expenses related to moving and storage, if needed, of household, personal, and professional office possessions from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Carbondale, Illinois,” the contract read. Please see Chancellor | 6