WSJ: Vandy making sure Gee isn't puffing away millions

Chancellor's spending, board's governance under microscope in long-awaited page-one story, which also reveals that Gee's wife smoked pot in university-owned mansion -- for medical reasons, Gee says

Email | Print By Walker Duncan

The Wall Street Journal today released its long-awaited article concerning the lavish spending of Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee. Rumors of the journalistic investigation have been bubbling around town since mid-July.

According to the article, the university's board first began to scrutinize Gee’s spending habits more thoroughly when it was learned that his wife Constance Gee smoked marijuana in Braeburn. It was only then that the board was shocked over its complacency in oversight of Gee. Members began to look at their chancellor and just how much money he was spending.

Gee was the second highest paid university head in 2004, with a salary totaling over $1.3 million. In addition, during his tenure over $6 million has gone to renovate Braeburn, the university owned mansion where he and his wife Constance live as well as entertain to raise money for the school. He also racked up travel and entertainment expenses, a budget the full board hadn't approved between 2000 and last year. Since his arrival in 2000, the article notes that the school has raised some $1.2 billion and the endowment has grown from $2 billion to $3 billion.

But after university employees found that Mrs. Gee had marijuana in the school-owned mansion, the board decided more oversight was necessary. The article quotes an unnamed source saying that when Gordon Gee was confronted, a trembling Gee said, "I've been worried to death over this." His wife was reprimanded.

The board is not, however, interested in running Gee off. The trustees have simply decided to pay closer attention to their money and how it’s spent. To do this, a special board committee to monitor Gee’s spending has been created.

According to the article, Gee is not thrilled by the new accountability but is not upset either. His, and others’, main worry is that the board will overcorrect its past lack of control and swing all the way into micromanagement.