February 22, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            The heads of all the center’s departments submitted their resignations at the meeting to follow former executive director Bettie Murchison. Through her new corporation, the W.E.B. DuBois Community Development Corporation, she has contracted to operate three programs – HopeBuilders, an alternative school for students suspended from the Wake County school system, and mental health counseling. The rest of the 120-plus member staff is expected to also resign to work for Murchison.

            Neither Perry nor Jones could be reached for comment.

            The resignations and the change in programs mean that only the after-school tutoring program and the food bank remain at the center. A staff member said Perry, who was apparently not aware of Murchison’s plans, began the Wednesday meeting by announcing all the current programs would continue and be expanded.

            This development is the latest in a series of disagreements involving the board of directors of the National DuBois Alumni Association. They reportedly began last September during the association’s annual meeting when there was a controversy about the election of the president that resulted in Perry being named president.

            The dissension simmered and occasionally erupted in the first three hours of a board meeting Saturday, Feb. 18. That part of the meeting was opened to observers because several had shown up, spurred by concern about the direction of the association and the center.

            The observers were Wake Forest developer Jim Adams; Commissioner Velma Boyd-Lawson and her husband, Mitchell; Mike Johnson representing Koinonia, Hoops for Wake Forest and the chamber of commerce’s executive director Mark Fleming, who was out of town; former alumni board member Haywood Massenburg; Marshall Harvey, who has been a consultant for the center; and two reporters. Murchison, the half-time accountant Sheila Lee and Murchison’s assistant, Cathee Miller, were also present, as were three men with the Road Less Traveled Theatre who wanted permission to use the center for play practices and productions.

            Most of those three hours were taken up with a presentation by Stephanie Ashworth. She was introduced by Perry, without any reference to credentials or a firm, as someone who would give a report on the association’s 501(3)(c) nonprofit status.

            “Your most important treasure is the 501(3)(c). Your job as a board is to protect that 501(3)(c) status,” Ashworth said before talking about modes of governance. “Your goal is to make sure the DuBois High School and this campus remain the heart of this community.”

            After soliciting responses about the future of the board, Ashworth introduced Lee Jackson, a CPA with Jackson & Jackson of Smithfield, who said he was there at Ashworth’s invitation.

            Jackson said he did not know the financial facts but said the center should be led by the board, which should make all the decisions about grants and programs. “Part of the problem is the center is less accountable.”

            He urged either a review or an audit for the association and center. It appeared an audit had not been done since the early 1990s.

            “I have been wanting an audit for the last two years,” board member Lamont Mitchell said. “I really do welcome this audit. Let you get the facts and come back and give a presentation. Today we’re flying by our thumbs.”

            “I welcome an audit,” Murchison said. She said she had hired Lee to keep the finances straight. The DuBois Center, she said, was set up as a DBA (doing business as) organization to keep the alumni funds separate from the grants that came to the center. In some cases, she said, those grants required separate bank accounts to prevent mingling of funds.

            “I have been accountable to this board,” Murchison ended.

            Perry said the board did not know about the separate accounts.

            After Jackson said the board should have access to every account and control over signature authority, board member and most recent president Mavis Farrar asked if Jackson or Ashworth had a signed contract with the association and Jackson said no. Perry said the board agreed in December Ashworth would come as a consultant.

            “I can print you a balance sheet,” Lee said. She had prepared profit and loss statements for 2004 and 2005 for the board.

            After he finished speaking, Jackson began gathering up financial records from Mary Lucas, treasurer for the local alumni group, and Massenburg.

            It seemed Jackson was preparing to take them to do an audit when Massenburg asked him if he was doing this pro bono, which Massenburg had understood from Perry was the case. Jackson said no and left the records. He had said an audit would be expensive, without citing a number, and the treasurer’s report later in the meeting said there was just over $22,000 in the association’s accounts.

            Ashworth then resumed her presentation, asking members what the future would look like. Maintain the nonprofit status, Perry said, and abide by the constitution and bylaws.

            “Be positive in our approach and get rid of the negative innuendos that are going around this damned table,” Mitchell said, adding more softly “and town.”

            “It’s important to deal with the negative feelings that are affecting your board,” Ashworth said, “but that’s not what we are dealing with today.” She then asked what the problems affecting the board are. “We need to spend some time making sure you are all in agreement what the vision is.” She suggested they may need a public relations campaign.

            Members mentioned a web site, among other things.

            “We are doing those things,” Lee said. “We have a web site, we have a video and we have information about the programs. We have them at the meetings and no one reads them.”

            Board member Diane Lawton said people do not see the alumni association but the center in information and news reports. They need the public relations campaign, she said, so the community “will see more than this one part of it and one individual. We’re losing members because of it.”

            Another member suggested changing the bylaws to allow people other than alumni to serve on the board, people with “more knowledge and more experience.”

            Mitchell said the center is meeting the needs of the community. The community has changed since the alumni association was chartered, he said. “We have to look at a broader picture, how the DuBois Center works in the community.”

            Board member Roger Shackleford, who lost the presidency to Perry, said he had been hearing discontent for the last year that there was more recognition of the DuBois Center and not of the alumni association. “We’ve got to resolve that so we can more forward.”

            By this time several observers were telling each other that Ashworth’s presentation appeared to be simplistic, even condescending.

            Miller voiced that when she asked to speak. She began by saying she and others came to the center because of the programs and thought the alumni association backed them. “You are being treated like third-graders here. You are smarter than that,” she said before she was interrupted by Perry.

            “You do not tell us what we want to do,” he said. “No one has the right to come into our meeting and tell us what we don’t need,” adding they could play tic-tac-toe if they wanted.

            When that was over, Farrar raised her hand and then stood to gain Perry’s recognition.

            “I’m not recognizing you,” Perry said.

            Despite that, Farrar said that some of the members “came a good distance” and asked that they move on from the Ashworth presentation to the rest of the agenda. Perry responded by asking Ashworth to continue, but she ended within two minutes.

            During the lunch break, Massenburg said, referring to Ashworth’s presentation, “What good is a 501(3)(c) if you don’t have the buildings and the programs.” Massenburg said he resigned from the board at the January meeting.

            After lunch, the only business was a presentation by Kevin Holmes of The Road Less Traveled Theatre. (This will be reported next week). The group won approval to hold practices and produce plays in the gymtorium.

            By this time Adams, Johnson and a number of board members including Evelyn Jones, Mitchell and William Massenburg had left the meeting.

            Speaking as a representative of the town, Boyd-Lawson said she was very pleased to be able to support the alumni association. “We are especially pleased at how the DuBois Center has functioned in our community. The leadership there has been outstanding. We were very saddened to hear of Ms. Murchison’s resignation. She is not the DuBois Center but she has represented it well. This center is [made possible] through the alumni, and we commend you for having the vision to set up the center to serve our community.”

            The observers were asked to leave as the meeting continued. During the afternoon the remaining board members reportedly voted to accept Murchison’s resignation and not to lease or rent space to her corporation.