Red River College ex-president had marble from school installed in home
Katie Nicholson | CBC News | Posted: October 28, 2014 12:45 PM | Last Updated: October 29, 2014
Stephanie Forsyth had marble installed in her kitchen, documents show
Some marble from a Red River College building was installed in the former college president's home.
Documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation confirm some of the marble from the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute was installed in Stephanie Forsyth's kitchen.
Forsyth left the college on Aug. 31, a year before her contract was up.
- RRC president Stephanie Forsyth leaves amid provincial review
- College's contract with ex-president spells out termination terms
She put her house on Wellington Crescent up for sale and has moved from Winnipeg.
A series of emails between Red River College executive staff and the college's board confirm a "quantity of marble" from the culinary arts school was installed in Forsyth's home.
The emails also state that the college does not know how much marble was installed, or what its value might be.
As well, the emails indicate that Forsyth told the college it was marble "marked for disposal."
It's not clear if she paid for the marble and the college is not sure if it was, in fact, marked for disposal.
The emails indicate the Red River College Board received a report on the matter on August 20.
In one email dated Sept. 4, Richard Lennon, who was then chair of the college's board, writes, "The report stated there is marble in the residence from PGI but that it was unable to determine if policies were broken due to lack of documentation. The report does not say no wrongdoing occurred so we cannot use that as an answer. It also did not confirm any wrongdoing."
An email the following day from acting president David Rew states, "The simple fact is that marble is in SF's house and a certain quantity came from PGI. Even if was marked for disposal it shows poor judgment at best…."
Prairie Architects was hired by RRC for design work on the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute. The firm told CBC News it wasn't involved in any work at Forsyth's home and says Carrara marble not used on the Paterson project was turned over to the college.
Colin Craig with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says it doesn't seem like the marble was disposed of using the proper channels.
"It kind of seems like more of the same from the college," Craig said. "More questionable activities and there doesn't seem to be too much in terms of accountability."
Craig said the college needs to figure out how much the marble is worth and recoup its value.
The house has since been sold.
New board chair to review the matter
In a short statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Red River College says its new board chairman, Lloyd Schreyer, "will be reviewing the matter in order to make recommendations regarding appropriate actions based on the findings of the investigation."
CBC News has contacted the board and Forsyth for a response, but we have not heard from them yet.
The province said it is awaiting the report from an internal review RRC is "currently finalizing."
A spokesperson added however, that "if the allegations are proven true, we do expect RRC would take immediate action to recover the costs of any College property that was taken."
'Doesn't pass the smell test'
Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, said the amount of marble in question is immaterial.
"It doesn't pass the smell test," he said Tuesday.
"Red River College seems not to be able to fulfill even the minimal requirements of accountability. Their board, their top official, in a simple matter which should be resolvable within a day, take weeks and weeks and still have no answers. It's not good enough."
He said the incident sends a troubling message.
"When our senior officials don't demonstrate moral integrity it sends a message to everyone that moral integrity isn't valued at the institution," he said. "That way lies trouble."
Schafer said the college's board itself should be replaced.
"The people at the very top who set the rules and set the tone, they seem to have so singularly … failed in their obligation up to this point," he said.