Morris Brown owes employees thousands
This post is NOT about the aggrieved employees of Morris Brown that have a claim against the institution for back pay. You can read all about their situation - and learn more than I PERSONALLY KNOW - from the article below.
This post is about yet another pattern that I have observed over the years as part of my "Longitudinal Study Of What Makes Activists Tick":
THE FATAL CONFLUENCE.
It is an observable fact that the primary weapon that an "activist" has is his power of INDICTMENT.
As the holder of "the moral high ground" of the society he is able to scour the community for "wrong" suffered by "the least of these" at the hands of POWER and then stand - "Unbought and Unsold" - within the breach - and execute upon the proverbial "SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER" - forcing the entity that THOUGHT that it could roll over the powerless to "Do The Right Thing".
The "Fatal Confluence" is a situation in which such an activist finds himself torn between two entities, each of which encapsulate a certain interest within the context of his "struggle". The normal behavior of "the free radical" to "Walk Through The Gates Of Hell With 'Gasoline Drawers' On" in pursuit of JUSTICE for his people - is now diminished to a more complicated situation that requires the guidance of a more pragmatic person who CAN SEE that his core principles MUST ALSO be applied to his "Permanent Friends", absent the showmanship that can typically appease the base of supporters.
There are certain examples of "The Fatal Confluence" that provides such a conflict between two points of interest:
- The Transit Services Union employees that demand significantly higher wages that would trigger fare increases among "the working poor" who ride upon the public transit system
- A local tax increase within a local environment that is already a "high tax basin", who's body of tax payers lack the income stratification for a "progressive taxation system" to produce its "redistributive" effect and is now a regressive tax
- The "Mission Accomplished" municipal administration which represents an accomplishment per the election victory that "the least of these" assisted in achieving - beyond their wildness dreams - ONLY to see that, over time, a "favorable government" can provide them incompetent civic services that violate their interests - just as effectively as an "enemy government" can do. Ultimately ALL GOVERNMENTS need to be checked by the presence of a non-government party that is consistent in the interests of the PEOPLE, not in "living vicariously through" the elected people who they believe are a manifestation of THEMSELVES in office
In all of these cases there is a large measure of conflicted interest that is suffered by the "middle man" who had always been able stand firmly on one side of the "tug of war" match as he proclaimed that he is firmly planted "With The People".
We all know that when it comes to the banks, the bonds holders and the foreclosure attorney's their FINANCIAL interests that they have enumerated on paper against the entity known as "Morris Brown College" allow them to be easily represented as "sharks" that are seeking to exploit a situation. Their goal is to maul the body parts off of an otherwise intact body, the resulting form would be too mangled to be recognized as anything like its previously state of vibrance, unable to perform its essential services to the community.
While we understand that a wage-based employee is able to show their personal archive of time cards as evidence that their fiscal claim against the college his LABOR was contributed to keep the machine going, the investor who holds a purely financial instrument against the college that shows evidence that he had previously invested his CAPITAL so that the machine could expand or continue its operations - is not seen in the same light, mostly due to one's ideological views of LABOR versus CAPITAL.
Without question - Morris Brown College would not have been able to scale its physical plant without access to capital that came from the bonds that it issued. (Lets assume that the plan had worked and the student by was enriched by the additional resources) This transaction was done in support of their goal to raise itself up to a more "value added school", for the ultimate benefit of its own students.
When this transaction was brought to the market - otherwise sober minded professional leadership of the school had read all of the terms and conditions of their bond issue and were informed of all of the risk as well as their "debt service payment obligations". This was not an agreement between unequal, disinterested parties. MBC put up several pieces of their hard capital assets up as collateral to back the issuance of the bonds that would allow it to grow to the next level.
IF it was proven that a perfectly executed plan in which these funds would have produced an increased staff of paid workers, world class facilities and educated (mostly Black
) people.
What we see, however, is the same pattern of THOUGH that is expressed in the "deal" to stop the demolition of the old Paschal's Motor Lodge (by finding an operating Black owned restaurant to agree to relocate into Paschal's - 8 years later "The Busy Bee" still remains at its original location and Paschals was saved BUT IS AN ABANDONED EYESORE) and the City of Detroit (where White banks threaten to remove leaders from the "largest Black run city outside of Africa").
This model is represented by the presence of the "Embedded Confidence Men" who act as intermediaries between the principle that needs financing as a means of obtaining a better circumstance (ex: Morris Brown, a Black home owner seeking a mortgage, the "unbanked"). They make references to racism and/or "Social Justice" as a means of tenderizing the financial services industry to offer "access" via special programs or products.
Don't get me wrong - indeed - the actuaries that work for the financial industry are out to make a profit. They merely shift the risk (ie: via balloon payments or adjustable rates). It must be said that the original RISK that made this a high risk relationship did not dissipate. The collateral or up front financing made it more digestible, often shifting the burden to someone else - usually the future financial services administration that will take over once they retire or get promoted.
In as much as this was a deal between two equals - we must also look at the greed and fraudulent intent from the "least of these" side. Surely the professionals at Morris Brown knew the risks. They allowed the "build it and they will come" consciousness to sell themselves on the notion that all would be well.
To underscore the point - there was no unique corruption at Morris Brown. This happens in many different entities that lack sufficient financial controls.
The unique role is at the hand of the "Embedded Confidence Man" function. They use a mix of "Racial Indictment" and "The Occupation" to make the case that these same financial institutions........."Have always stolen from Black people since slavery times. Today they are seeking to steal the land from Morris Brown so that none of our Black children can receive and education and have the knowledge to fight against corrupt White men like this".
The Embedded Confidence man who brokered the original deal - as he noted that "There are too few Black faces that are selling the municipal bonds of a 'Black city' " is the same Embedded Confidence man that always seems to land on his feet. Now he is telling the cheering crowd that "These White coin exchangers have the audacity to believe that they are going to steal OUR buildings".
In the case of the unpaid workers - I would not be surprised to see the very same individual "Embedded Confidence Man" - stand at the foot of the administration building and yelling up to the window of the college president "We want JUSTICE for these people who live paycheck to paycheck. They helped you while you were down and this is how you treat them?" . He then asks the workers to hold the megaphone and then he runs to the top of the stairs, taking off his cap and then turning to the audience - in the role of UNIVERSITY SPOKESMAN - tell them: "Alright, alright. Settled down. I fully empathize with your situation. This is a bad deal for you. We all love this college and unfortunately the bad times made by greedy men on Wall Street has brought Morris Brown down in the same way that many of you have had your houses stolen by the bank. This is not a time to turn against Morris Brown because it is a victim too. Let's stand together on these front stairs - because the Sheriff of Fulton County is coming right now to evict all of our office furniture and throw it on to Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. You need to remind the sheriff that you voted for him just a few short weeks ago and if he proceeds with this action - that you are going to quickly find an opposition Republican candidate to stand up against him and vote him out in November 2012."
From The AJC Story
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Morris Brown College, which has been reeling from serious financial hardships for more than a decade – and is on the verge of a foreclosure – has not paid its employees in three months.
Some staff members are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in accumulated back pay from an even longer period, and graduates come back to clean the school because nobody is being paid to do it.
Chemistry professor Gloria L. Anderson, for example, is owed $204,585, according to recently filed court documents.Toledo Riley, the director of recruitment and admissions, is owed $171,000. Hector Butts, who chairs the business administration department, is due $163,000. Vice president of student affairs Vivian El-Amin is awaiting $142,000.
“I knew it was a substantial amount of money, but I had not looked at my records,” said Jacqueline Pollard, the vice president of institutional advancement, “So I really don’t know how much I am owed.” The school owes her $205,000.
They were on a list of the college’s 20 largest unsecured claims it filed in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in an attempt to stave off foreclosure proceedings.
According to the documents, the school also owes several utility companies, including $1.9 million to Georgia Power; $97,000 to Atlanta’s water department, and $55,000 to Georgia Natural Gas. It owes Woodruff Library, which all of the colleges in the Atlanta University Center share, $2.4 million.
Morris Brown is more than $30 million in debt to at least 200 creditors. The debt includes $13 million in bonds issued in 1996 through the Fulton County Development Authority, payment on which creditors are moving to get via foreclosure. When the bonds were issued, college officials used property as collateral. Earlier this month, the school was informed several pieces of property including the administration building would be auctioned off on Sept. 4.
According to Fulton County tax records, the 131-year-old school owns 20 parcels on campus. The total fair market value of the parcels – many of which are boarded up, abandoned or burned out — is $33,583,400.
“The Chapter 11 should prevent the foreclosure, because it is an automatic stay,” said Ann Aaronson, an attorney for Morris Brown. “We are hoping to work out an agreement with the bondholders to resolve their debt. And we would like to do so as quickly as possible.
Along with the financial woes, the school has not been accredited in 10 years.
“This gives them time to take a global look at their situation,” Aaronson said. “We are hoping this gives Morris Brown the ability to get their affairs in order and move forward successfully.”
According to its petition, the school incurs approximately $100,000 a month in payroll expenses. The last time anyone was paid was June 11, for the pay period that ended May 30.
Morris Brown “estimates that … approximately $3.2 million in pre-petition accrued wages, salaries, bonuses and other compensation earned … remains unpaid,” the document stated.
Aside from not being paid, the staff and faculty are stretched thin. Only 17 staffers, including vice presidents and their support staffs, remain on campus. There are only five full-time faculty members and 16 part-timers. Only two people handle maintenance on the entire campus – a point stressed this weekend when several alumni mentioned that they have cut the grass and cleaned the toilets.
Yet, the faculty and staff still come to work.
“It depends on your commitment and dedication to the college,” Pollard said. “I have faith that I will receive my money. I don’t know when, but I will get it.”