Cedarville President Thomas White Is Presently a Member of Its Board of Trustees: Please Help Me Evaluate the 990 Forms Stating This
Updated June 6, 2020 at 8:13 AM
Please see a copy of Cedarville’s current bylaws, dated May 2017. They’re very interesting.
Cedarville’s bylaws as of May 2017
Update on May 29, 2020 at 12:00 PM
Thanks again for everyone’s support. There are lots of great people in the Cedarville community.
I think that ya’ll deserve a much better president and board of trustees.
Unfortunately, according to the 2013 (circa) bylaws above, Cedarville is governed by what is called a self perpetuating board. That appears to mean that trustees pick new trustees, and a committee of trustees can fire any trustee.
No other stakeholders of Cedarville University, including alumni and private undisclosed donors, have any official legal say in electing or firing trustees.
That’s a real pickle for members of the Cedarville community who aren’t very happy with its trustees right now.
Disgraced Cedarville University President Thomas White is not a voting member of the board. However, according to the 2013 (circa) bylaws, he can sit on any committee of the board.
This is relevant for many reasons. The biggest of which I believe is White’s constant claim that his hands are tied by the trustees, whom he serves in theory.
Very few people seem to know that disgraced Cedarville University President Thomas White is a board member at all. Even if he can’t vote, I do believe that White can and has leaned on trustees to build him a giant mansion, because he’s privvy to all the board’s business and good buddies with at least a couple of them, as Justicecollective has pointed out.
Many people have suggested that White is no longer entitled to be a member of Cedarville’s board, because he has been placed on administrative leave.
That’s how it would normally work. However, a university president who went out of his or her way to hire an admitted sexual predator, and then let that predator stare at naked students in a locker room, would normally be fired immediately.
Therefore, I am not assuming that Cedarville University’s present board of trustees have any ethical standards at all. I humbly suggest that others consider making the same assumption.
I’ve decided to make this post a forum for any issues pertaining to disgraced Cedarville University President Thomas White’s role as a board member, or Cedarville’s bylaws and financial issues in general.
Please see ask away. Chances are that the trustees and Cedarville’s legal counsel are monitoring what’s said in this forum.
Finding a current copy of Cedarville’s bylaws should not be this difficult. Based on efforts by professional journalist Julie Roys at JulieRoys.com to contact leaders at Cedarville, it appears that neither White nor board members are willing to answer questions of any kind.
If these guys won’t respond to calls or e-mails from a professional journalist of Julie Roys caliber, then I doubt they will communicate with a grungy, yet very annoying, blogger like me. ?
Therefore, I’m sending a certified letter to Cedarville’s registered agent requesting that Cedarville’s general counsel provide me with a copy of Cedarville’s current bylaws.
Every corporation, including non profit corporations, must provide the name and contact information of a person or entity willing and able to accept legal correspondence on the corporation’s behalf.
That information for Cedarville University is on file with the state of Ohio.
I’m trying to think of ways to let people know that I’ve updated this forum. Right now, please just glance at this page once in a while if you’re interested in its content.
Thanks. Janna
Update on May, 28, 2020 at 8:10 AM
Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of my efforts to discern how University’s finances are managed by its trustees and people on its board, like disgraced Cedarville University President Thomas White. HeaHe appears to be an ex officio board member WITHOUT voting privileges, yet likely exercises great deal of control over the trustees and their donors, nonetheless.
This article will simply have to be a work in progress. Let me start with Cedarville University’s bylaws.
Usually a non profit corporation’s bylaws can be found easily by doing a record search through a state’s business entity system. The one for Ohio is here – look up Cedarville College or Cedarville University here.
I’ll look further, yet a short time researching only yielded the bylaws for Cedarville College, founded in 1963. I could not find bylaws for Cedarville University, founded in 2000. They’re probably there and I just haven’t found them yet.
Fortunately, a brilliant researcher and friend of the blog named Jerome, found a copy of Cedarville’s bylaws circa 2013.
They indicate that the president of Cedarville University does not have voting powers, yet is able to sit on any board committee.
More about that soon. Must jump on a call.
Thank so much again for the support.
Background
I’m Janna L. Chan, Todd Wilhelm’s blog partner and assistant. I’m asking for help in evaluating some 990 tax forms, as they pertain to disgraced Cedarville President Thomas White’s responsibilities as an ex oficio member of Cedarville’s board. I do have a business degree and have gone through some additional classes about evaluating various forms of financial statements. However math is not the subject in which God has given me the most natural aptitude.
Therefore, I’m hoping that people more gifted in the field of accounting can answer some questions I have about the way the Cedarville board of trustees manages Cedarville University’s money. Based on my research to date, I believe that Thomas White may have the power to vote on any decision that the trustees make, including whether he is fired from his present position at the university or able to keep a 9000 sq. ft. mansion, that the board of trustees appear to be helping finance through donors or general funds, as his personal property.
Cedarville 990 Tax Forms
I have collected several Cedarville 990 tax forms dating back to 2009. I am missing Cedarville’s 990 for the year 2018. Right now, I am posting links to Cedarville’s 2017 990 forms below, as it is probably most relevant to the scandal Cedarville is presently going through.
Cedarville University’s 990 Form for the period 07 -01 -2016 – 06 -30- 2017 as a PDF
Boatload of Other Research
Tomorrow I will be posting a lot of other research pertaining to disgraced Cedarville University President Thomas White’s position on Cedarville’s board. For now, please forgive the brevity of this uncompleted post. It’s 3 o’clock in the morning and I’m 41 not 21. 😉
Thanks so much to the many members of the Cedarville community who have put trust in Todd. Thanks.
Janna L. Chan (blog team member)
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