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Brookdale President Suspended

By Art Gallagher

Brookdale College President Peter Burnham has been suspended without pay due to a review of expenses that “revealed significant expenses and reimbursements associated with the President’s Office budget that may not be directly connected to Brookdale or are contrary to Brookdale’s adopted policies governing travel, mileage, and other reimbursable expenses,” according to a news release posted on the college’s website.

Dr. William Toms, PhD, a retired State Police investigator,  has been appointed Acting President of the community college.

Additionally, the Board of Trustees hire an independent auditor to investigate all expenditures made from the President’s Office budget, including all expenses and reimbursements.  The audit is due by the end of March and will cost no more than $12,500.

“We are conducting a comprehensive audit of the President’s Office and will release to the public the  findings as soon as we can.  This is a public institution and everyone from our Freeholders to our faculty to our taxpayers deserve answers,” said Howard Birdsall, Chairman of Brookdale’s Board of Trustees.

“Our highest obligation is to the truth and Dr. Toms is going to lead a very open and transparent process that gets us the answers we need.  If something happened that shouldn’t have happened, we want to know what it was, how it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again.  Dr. Toms has built an outstanding record of achievement during his career and has the perfect skill set to lead Brookdale through the challenges we face,” said Birdsall.

Freeholder John Curley first raised the issue of Burnham’s compensation and spending in a statement to MoreMonmouthMusings on February 16th.

”While I am appalled at the contract Dr. Burnham was given, I can’t help but wonder what other extravagances are in that budget,” said Curley, liaison to Brookdale. “It’s time we go through Brookdale’s budget line by line to see not just what the president is spending, but the other departments as well. A good hard look at waste in all public colleges and universities is long overdue.”

Way to go John!

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Posted: March 3rd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Brookdale Community College, John Curley, Peter Burnham | Tags: , , | 6 Comments »

6 Comments on “Brookdale President Suspended”

  1. Bayshore Tea Party Group said at 7:47 pm on March 3rd, 2011:

    In anticipation of tonight’s Monmouth County Budget information session…

    And while we’re in a good mood, here’s Freeholder Curley on the budget from an APP editorial on March 1st:…

  2. JW said at 8:14 pm on March 3rd, 2011:

    Mr. Monmouth County is on the job!

  3. TR said at 9:12 am on March 4th, 2011:

    THE ENTIRE BOARD SHOULD BE REMOVED!

  4. Henry Vaccaro said at 10:28 am on March 5th, 2011:

    Curley has a set of balls, we need more like him.

  5. MoreMonmouthMusings » Blog Archive » The Politics Of The Brookdale Scandal said at 9:34 am on March 7th, 2011:

    […] Republican Freeholder John Curley first identified and raised the issue which led to Burnham’s suspension last week.  But while Mallet has gotten out front with the issue by calling for college chairman Harold […]

  6. MoreMonmouthMusings » Blog Archive » Snooki is cheap said at 11:32 pm on May 31st, 2011:

    […] cheap compared to former Brookdale College President Peter Burnham’s salary and perks before Freeholder John Curley tore down that ivory tower.  McCormick’s compensation sounds cheap, given the job, compared […]