The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is raising more questions about Red River College’s former president, Stephanie Forsyth.
The CTF released documents Tuesday that show extra marble from the college’s Patterson GlobalFoods Institute was installed it in the kitchen of her former home.
“First the former president expensed golf shoes and her driver’s license, then there was the bill for wedding-related expenses and now we’re talking about her taking home expensive marble,” said Colin Craig, CTF prairie director.
Emails the CTF obtained through Freedom of Information said, “marble from the PGI construction exists in Ms. Forsyth’s residence and she has indicated it was material marked for disposal.”
Another read, “her indication that this was marked for disposal is not verified by a third party.”
The emails suggest the college doesn’t know how much marble Forsyth took or whether college policies were broken.
An internal email said, “The report of the review was provided to the Board on Aug. 20 but was unable to determine whether College policies had been broken.”
Red River’s online asset disposal policy mandates the disposal of surplus furnishings or equipment owned by the college should be handled by trading, selling, auctioning or donating the item.
“If the former president had taken a few scraps of old plywood, no one would care,” said Craig. “But we’re talking about expensive marble and photos suggest it could be a sizeable amount. The college should have sold off the material.”
The CTF is calling on the college to release a report on the matter, that it previously claimed wasn’t complete.
“The college needs to come clean on what’s going on,” said Craig. “We’re talking about taxpayer dollars and student fees.”
Red River College issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon, saying Lloyd Schreyer has been appointed chair of the Red River College Board of Governors.
"As the new chair, Mr. Schreyer will be reviewing the matter in order to make recommendations regarding appropriate actions based on the findings of the investigation," said Red River College's statement.
