UConn president Michael Hogan will be getting some new chairs for his office, and while this might not seem newsworthy at first, the $35,000 price tag for high-end furniture has turned some heads.
UConn spokesman Michael Kirk told the Hartford Courant on Thursday that two-thirds of the furniture costs for the office will be covered by private donations through the fundraiser foundation at the university.
Kirk said tuition revenue and other operating funds would be used to pay the remainder of the furniture bill as well as the $475,000 cost of the Gulley Hall renovations. The renovation bill is almost twice as much as officials estimated.
School officials said that the plan to use foundation money has been underway for months, but nothing was mentioned about it during two recent committee meetings when the renovations were approved.
School officials told the newspaper there is no record of the proposal Hogan or staff made to the foundation because the request was verbal and the board did not vote before approving it.
The office cost news comes soon after university officials admitted that workers threw asbestos-covered materials out the second floor window of Hogan’s office, breaking Occupational Safety and Health Administration laws.
