July 15, 1999 - 9:30am - Dennis Hokama

According to Gwendolyn Ashley, the recently resigned administrative assistant to five AUC presidents and five academic deans, Atlantic Union College has no funds to continue beyond the end of August, 1999. Her highly critical, four-page exit report also leveled charges of gross mismanagement against Sylvan A. Lashley, the president of Atlantic Union College. This confidential report was leaked to Karen Nugent of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, who wrote two articles about it on July 22 and July 24 of this year. The beleaguered president lashed back on August 4 by releasing his confidential point-by-point response to the Lancaster Times, a rival paper to Nugent’s Telegram and Gazette. In it, the claim is set forth that AUC, far from being on the brink of collapse, is in fact experiencing a period of "great growth," and has made great progress, both academically and financially, during Lashley’s tenure.

The July 22 article was based on the confidential report by Ashley, who left AUC in June to join Adventist Risk Management as an assistant to the President in Silver Springs, MD. The July 24 article focuses on AUC’s immediate public response to the publication of Nugent’s initial article.

It appeared under the heading "Former employee says Atlantic Union is on the verge of collapse. Trustees will discuss mismanagement charges of longtime assistant Thursday, July 22, 1999":

• AUC, with only 500 full-time students, many of which are students of color, representing 50 different countries, is on the verge of collapse because of mismanagement and cronyism by President Sylvan A. Ashley, who was appointed to succeed James Londis in October of 1996.
• Theodore T. Jones II, Board of trustees chairman and president of the Atlantic Union Conference of SDAs, announced that a teleconference would take place today to discuss Ashley’s report.
• President Lashley is quoted as saying, "We don’t have a comment on it (Ashley’s report)," while dismissing Ashley’s allegations as the "musing from a disgruntled employee who was intending to leave the college for some time."
• Ashley admits to have been job hunting for the past 15 months because of her disappointment with Lashley’s mismanagement. She declares that:
  1. Under Lashley, enrollment has declined, fund-raising attempts have been feeble, faculty has been demoralized, a poor image has been projected, and there has been no marketing plan.
  2. Lashley placed unqualified, inexperienced friends and cronies in important positions. In some cases, they were unable to speak or write English well enough to be effective. In two crucial positions dealing with recruitment and fund-raising, he hired two of these friends at a time when AUC needed the very best in order to survive. These two were ineffective and have since asked to be reassigned back to teaching.
  3. In the past year, AUC has put up most of its property for sale, except for the immediate college buildings and land, in order to generate cash flow.
  4. In October of 1997, Bruce Wells, an AUC dean appointed by Lashley, approached surprised selectmen (equivalent to assemblymen) in nearby Clinton for permission to use a Clinton address to sell used cars out of the college parking lot in Lancaster in order to circumvent Lancaster’s local zoning laws.
  5. Ashley admits Lashley inherited an $11 million debt from Londis, and an extremely difficult situation in 1996. But she claims that he ignored sound advice to make recruitment and fund-raising his main priorities, and instead wasted time and money by generating reams of strategy reports and adding budgets and layers of administration that were of no benefit to the college. As a result, the school was still more than $11 million in debt despite the sale of property.
• Financial conditions are so deplorable that Lashley did not even present a budget or financial statement at the November, 1998 board meeting.
• With projected cash flow lasting only until the end of August, 1999, and most of their real estate already sold, Ashley fears the college’s collapse is imminent if Lashley remains in office.

Two days later, on July 24, Nugent followed that up with an article describing AUC’s immediate response to Ashley’s charges under the heading, "Atlantic Union stresses college will remain open in the fall." Although Lashley remained silent personally, Ted Jones II, AUC board chairman, made the following points:

• "The college is run by a competent team of administrators who are answerable to the Board of Trustees."
• The executive board met on Thursday to discuss Ashley’s July 6 letter, and the full board would meet to discuss it at their regular meeting "later this year."
• "Presently, the campus at Atlantic Union College remains busy with various conventions and classes and looks forward to a good school year in enrollment for 1999-2000."
• AUC would open this fall "to continue its longstanding tradition and role as an institution dedicated to Christian education."

On August 4, Paul Della Valle of the Lancaster Times came out with a follow-up story entitled "College reeling from Ashley’s criticism" that included excerpts from the "point-by-point response" Lashley had prepared for the school’s trustees. Lashley had subsequently authorized its release last week to the Lancaster Times, a rival of Nugent’s Telegram and Gazette. Some of its salient assertions can be inferred from the claims attributed to Lashley and Jones in the article:
 

• Ashley’s letter was full of misinformation; the school is in fact now in much better shape, both financially and in terms of enrollment, than it was previously.
• Theodore T. Jones, Atlantic Union Conference president and Board Chairman is quoted as saying, "Most certainly it (AUC) is (in better shape). The college is going full steam ahead. We are anticipating a very good school year for the fall and going into 2000 and beyond. We have no plans for any shutdown."
• Ashley is criticized for not being a "team player," although Lashley hastens to add, "I wish therefore to openly forgive immediately."
• Jones, however, admits that they are in consultation with legal advisors to consider the possibility of a lawsuit for damages, although they wanted to handle Ashley’s report in "a Christian manner."
• Jones claims that the college’s legal bills have been reduced to $818,000 and that the school’s overall debt is now $7 million. The school has projected cash flow at least through August, 2000, and is in "absolutely no danger of a collapse but is actually in a period of great growth."
• During Ashley’s tenure, AUC has received the maximum accreditation from national and Adventist educational organizations.
• Enrollment is actually increasing from the 500 full-time students they had last year.
• Ashley’s criticism of Lashley’s hirings and real estate transactions were unfair, since his actions were overseen by standing committees.
• Both Jones and Lashley criticize Ashley for not making her concerns known while she was still an employee of the school.

Della Valle also spoke to Ashley by phone in August concerning AUC’s response. "I stand by every single word. It is not something I did capriciously without considerable thought ‡I felt somebody had to alert the board. I felt it was the principled thing to do." She expressed dismay that her report had been leaked to the press, because "this really wasn’t an external matter, but you have to expect that there would be many consequences." She was motivated only by a deep concern for AUC. 

Ashley also stands behind her statement placing AUC’s indebtedness at $11 million. "That it may be couched in a different way doesn’t matter," she said. "It’s still a debt that somebody has to pay—and that somebody is Atlantic Union College."

She denies that it would have been more appropriate for her to have written a hard-hitting report in which she went as far as naming unqualified appointees before she left. "I certainly could not have written that report while in the college’s employ," she said. "That would have been unethical. But someone had to say it, and I guess it’s got to be me," she told Della Valle from her office in Maryland.

When contacted on August 4 by Adventist Today, Ashley said she was still standing by her report but declined to make further comments. Since AT filed that report, numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made to contact AUC representatives. Their public relations department has informed AT that Elder Ted Jones is the only person allowed to speak to the media about the issue. He was contacted by phone on the morning of August 19 for only enough time to set up a phone interview for later in the day. However, when AT called his office at the time that was agreed upon, as well as several times afterward, there was only a recorded message.