for any more of my hard earned money through your solicitations for donations. It is apparent that you don't need it as much as you say you do considering that you decided yesterday to continue your association with the Oxford American.
From the ADG this morning:
Quote:
CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas will continue providing funding and office space to The Oxford American magazine after the school’s board of trustees approved a new five-year agreement with the publication Friday.
The new agreement follows an investigation that led to the firing of the magazine’s two top editors and concerns about its lingering debt to the university.
Under the agreement, a memorandum of understanding, the Conway university will get new benefits, including two un- paid internships each year, an annual Oxford American event on campus, two spots on a newly created editorial board and two full-page advertisements in each issue of the quarterly magazine.
The arrangement also provides a level of financial security for a magazine with a rocky history that has been stabilized by $700,000 in advances from UCA since the two organizations first partnered in 2004.
Under the agreement, UCA will continue to provide $50,000 in annual funding and two offices to the magazine. In exchange, The Oxford American will work to repay the $700,000, immediately turning over any cash pledges from outside donors made toward that debt and giving UCA at least 25 percent of its profits when it sees a “positive cash flow.”
The agreement also includes a stipulation that UCA and Oxford American leaders will meet annually to review the publication’s financial condition. Either party can withdraw from the agreement at the end of any fiscal year if it provides 90 days notice, but the magazine would still owe the university any outstanding debt, the agreement said.
UCA President Tom Courtway recommended approval of the agreement to the trustees Friday, saying the magazine’s reputation and wide circulation would draw interest to the campus and its writing program.
“We may have some financial obligation, but we are gaining, in my mind, some tangible benefits,” he said.
Read the next part carefully.
Sabin, who was not at the meeting, said in an interview he was confident the magazine could build its bottom line to begin repaying the money.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the last four years, and we’ve done that at a time when the overall economy has been challenging and the state of the print media industry has been especially challenging,” he said.
On July 19, Rick Massey, chairman of the magazine's board of directors, indicated he personally was going to help reduce the magazine’s debt to UCA by $69,000 a year for five years, starting immediately.
Massey said by telephone Friday that he made the first payment within days to the magazine, which was in turn to forward it to the university.
But UCA spokesman Jeff Pitchford, in response to a question, said in an e-mail Friday, “We are not aware of any payment being paid at this point.”
“Warwick’s had the money,” Massey said. “My guess is that he wanted to make sure this all [the arrangement with UCA] got worked out.”
Sabin said later that he had delayed forwarding the money “because of the negotiations” with UCA. “That's just the procedure we were following,” he said. Asked who made that decision, Sabin said he did.
He said he will send the money to UCA “within the next few days.”
Sabin said he would have sent the money to UCA if the magazine had been told to leave the campus.
Why did Sabin hold on to the money that was owed us? Mr. Massey gave the money as a partial payment to UCA and Sabin held the money hostage it appears to see what the decision of the board would be. This only tells me that if the board didn't make a new contract with OA then it's quite possible that we wouldn't be seeing the money any time soon if that is what Sabin might decide to do.
Mr. Sabin, why did you hold on to money that was owed to the school? It appears you want your cake and eat it too. You, imo, are not an example of someone dealing in good faith. If you were going to give us the money if we had booted you off campus, then why did you not go ahead and give it to us the first day you received the check from Massey? Who leaves a $69,000 check laying around for three months without giving it to the people intended? Undoubtably, you do. I'm pretty sure you deposited it into the OA account to wait to see how things would pan out. It still befuddles me why UCA would do business with someone who is somewhat shady about covering their debts.
This will be a piece of meat that UCA will be choking on for quite a while I'm afraid.
Once again UCA, please don't be sending me any mailings, any phone calls or emails asking me for money that you don't need. I got your number - in more ways than one.
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