In recent years, the U.S. Naval Academy has faced intense scrutiny over the school’s handling of sexual assault cases, its admission process and treatment of an outspoken faculty member. Now, two graduates are taking the academy’s alumni association and chief fundraising arm to task over what they allege are unethical practices.
The alumni association, which has more than 53,000 members, and the foundation, which raises money for the academy, are independent of the school and are technically two separate nonprofit organizations that share a president, chief financial officer and some staff members.
That combined structure is at the root of some of the criticisms laid out in the nearly 90-page letter sent earlier this week to board members and trustees of the association and foundation by retired Navy Capt. David Tuma, a 1964 graduate who lives in Arlington, Virginia, and Glen Weeks, a 1965 graduate and retired attorney in Oregon. Both are active alumni association members. The two spent months researching and writing the annotated document before distributing it Monday, just as graduates, parents, and school officials were preparing for one of the academy’s highest profile events of the year: the Army-Navy game on Saturday.
Association and foundation spokeswoman Kristen Pironis said the boards, outside auditors and lawyers will review the concerns, but noted that they have been through this exercise before.
“To date, Captain Tuma has sent 144 complaints to our alumni association and/or foundation boards since 2008,” she said in a statement Wednesday. “We have dealt with Captain Tuma’s past allegations appropriately each time in coordination with our Alumni Association and Foundation Boards, our outside auditor McGladrey, LLC, and our outside counsel.”
Pironis said the organizations have previously responded to Weeks’ complaints as well.
The letter sent Monday listed a total of 37 specific concerns. They include an allegation that since 2004, the association and foundation have deliberately flouted laws in 40 states governing charitable fundraising, registering and reporting.
“We break laws to raise funds to give to the Naval Academy to develop ethics programs for Midshipmen!” Tuma and Weeks wrote.
“We’ve got to set the example as graduates,” Tuma said in a phone interview.
In their letter, the two also alleged that until recently the foundation misled the Internal Revenue Service, saying it made contributions to the academy that were actually used to support a private preparatory school scholarship program for student athletes, which they said was not run in accordance with the bylaws of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The graduates also said that money reported to the IRS as going to the academy went to support the Naval Academy Athletic Association, whose mission, according to the group’s website, is to “promote, influence, and assist in financing the athletic contests of the midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy.”
Few of the allegations are likely to come as a surprise to the board members and trustees. Many of them “have been reported by alumni and known by some Trustees, some Directors, and some staff for years,” Tuma and Weeks wrote.
In addition to references to supporting documents, the letter included scores of questions and requests for more information.
“These are not small and impoverished organizations managed by overworked volunteers whose failures you should generously forgive,” they wrote, citing the six-figure compensation paid to its top two officers. President and chief executive Byron Marchant received $534,372 in compensation in 2012, and chief financial officer Henry Sanford received $263,085, the groups’ federal tax returns show.
There are about 100 naval academy alumni chapters worldwide, 75 active class organizations and 84 parent clubs. The foundation was formed in 1944 to support athletic programs. In 1999, it merged with the Naval Academy Endowment Trust to become the sole fundraising entity for the academy.
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