The
TANGERINE
FRIDAY, NOV. 20 2020
UCTANGERINE.COM
Longtime Jeopardy! Host Alex Trebek dies at 80
Archived then digitized: Tangerine issues from 1946-2012 available online
UC will begin construction on a turf athletic field and track
NEWS | PG. 5
FEATURES | PG. 10
SPORTS | PG. 12
Op-Ed: Non Profit Light highlights college finances
Follow-up with Suspended Students HANNAH STEYN SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS REPORTER
Photo: Utica College Media Relations NICK MCADAM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Non Profit Light is an online database that highlights organizational salaries, revenues and expenses, all of which are easily accessible to the public and free to use. The database allows users to search by location and specific organizations. It also ranks expenses, revenues and salaries in the region. At the moment, Utica College is ranked third for nonprofits in the area in both annual revenue ($104,359,411) and expenses ($98,993,758) trailing only the St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare. The database also lists executive salaries that are listed on recent tax filings. At the moment, nine out of the 10 listed names come from the administration who earn over six figures collecting a combined
$1,652,498. Users can also compare figures to other private institutions in the region such as Hamilton College, boasting over $1 billion in net assets and more than $200 million in total revenue for the past year. The top four individual salaried workers at Hamilton College, according to the database, make more than Utica College’s administration combined. Earnings and expenses come directly from the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Form 990. Though the college’s last publicly available report was from 2019, both individual salaries and college finances come very close to matching what is currently reported on Non Profit Light. The database makes reading through pages of tax forms much easier, although for those who are interested in diving deeper into
college expenses, such as custodial payments, Sodexo expenses and grant amounts, can look directly at the IRS report, though the most recent report found ended the fiscal year in May 2019. Information directly from the college as recent as 2019 can also be found on its website. At the moment, reports date as far back as the fiscal year ending on May 31, 2005. Being an informed student at your institution is just as important as the degree you are pursuing. Each student is delivered a tuition bill of around $10,000 per semester to attend Utica College, which does not take into account living expenses and fees. “I feel it is important for students to be informed about the sources and uses of college funds,” Comptroller and Assistant Treasurer Ann McGowan said. “Transparency is SEE NONPROFIT PG. 6
At the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, several students were removed from campus for breaking rules enforced to keep Utica College students and faculty safe and to ensure that campus remained safely open until Thanksgiving Break. One such student was Freshman Bruce French. French was part of the first group of 12 students to be transitioned to online learning following a gathering in South Hall, the first big incident violating COVID-19 policy that President Laura Casamento had to address. French said he has found the academic aspect of being online difficult, particularly in classes that are in-person for all his classmates. “I struggle with math and doing that online has been really hard,” French said. “I wish I had that one-on-one attention that you get from being inperson.” French said that he thought the punishment to be harsher than he had expected. French had received a message inviting him to spend some time with some of his teammates. As a new
student, he decided to take the opportunity to meet some new people. According to French, he was unaware of how many people were going to be in attendance. “I went an hour after getting the text, I decided to go last minute because I wanted to get to know the people I was going to be on a team with for the next four years,” he said. “I was in there for maybe thirty seconds before there was a knock and Campus Safety came in.” French did not realize right away that he would be in any trouble, as he had thought Campus Safety was there to be sure nobody was drinking, and as he had not been, he was not concerned. “I’d just walked in - I didn’t even know how many people were there,” he said. “I wasn’t worried because I didn’t even realize what we were in trouble for.” Campus Safety recorded the IDs of all students present, and a hearing was scheduled. According to French, the hearing consisted of the 12 students all being handed letters of suspension, and they were not given the opportunity to speak to anyone and present their cases before parents and the rest of the college was informed that the SEE SUSPENDED PG. 4