In a report released this week by the St. Lawrence University Budget Office, tuition will increase to an even 70,000 dollars per year, beginning this fall. Originally, the office offered no evidence for the increase, but a series of e-mails were anonymously left in the Hill News mailbox that point to the culprit. President William L. Fox ’75 requested the tuition increase to cover his debts from swanky retreats to Log o Marlo Resort in Jamaica, New York. Since taking office, Fox has racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars at the resort, spending money on everything from 400 rounds of golf to more than one thousand steak dinners, in addition to an average of five appletinis per night spent at Log o Marlo. In the e-mails, Fox admitted to leaving for the resort “at least once a week” to deal with the crushing stress of finding donors to pay for SLU’s extravagant expansion plans.
It is worth noting that before taking office, Fox lambasted his predecessor for playing too much golf and taking too much time off. A 2009 tweet reveals his thoughts on taking time off while being president. “While our wonderful president was out playing golf all day, SLU is falling apart, just like our government! Dana a total disaster!” Now that he is in office, Fox seems to feel differently, as it is SLU’s students who will have to foot the bill for his “much needed” time off.
SLU’s students, who helped sweep Fox into office, seem unfazed. “Our last president was so lazy; it was just something about him. He didn’t want to work at all,” said one individual. Another told The Hill News, “Our president works hard, not like the last one. HE deserves some time off. Besides, us paying for this is temporary; Clarkson will pay us for it later.”
There is no comment yet from President Fox’s office, but St. Lawrence Press Secretary Mel Milder has called the president’s work ethic “phenomenal.”