Report: Dobelle Fails at Westfield State University Fundraising and Graduation Rates.

A report from the Boston Business Journal provides a stark account of free-spending Westfield State University president Evan Dobelle’s six-year tenure at the western Massachusetts school. Managing editor Craig Douglas writes:

Since taking over Westfield’s corner office in 2007, Dobelle has presided over a university that has failed to improve its graduation rates and sorely trails its local peers when it comes to fundraising from alumni and outside donors. In addition, it is a school that still draws around 94 percent of its incoming freshman from Massachusetts, a ratio that has barely budged despite Dobelle’s controversial efforts to promote the school outside of the state.

The investigation into Dobelle’s lavish ways (15 trips to San Francisco and personal spending that Dobelle failed to reimburse for many months) has prompted a look at other aspects of his expensive tenure at the school. Douglas found:

Despite Dobelle’s stated mission to improve the college’s fundraising prowess, Westfield ranked last among the commonwealth’s nine state colleges when it came to raising money from donors and alumni last year — the same place it was when Dobelle took over in 2007. In fact, since Dobelle’s first full year in the corner office, Westfield’s annual fundraising haul actually declined by 43 percent, falling from $875,000 in 2008 to $501,411 in 2012. Last year’s take was Westfield’s lowest fundraising total since 2005.

The university’s board will meet on October 16th to decide the way forward.