On December 28, 2006, St. Olaf College filed a petition in District Court requesting the court to approve St. Olaf's plans to repurpose the funds that it acknowledges it holds in the WCAL charitable trust. [PDF, 66 pages]
When the gifts were made, the College placed the gifts in both categories in the WCAL endowment. It asserts in its Petition that the donors of the gifts in the first category did not specifically direct St. Olaf to place their gifts in the WCAL endowment. As for the second category, St. Olaf claims that it was not able to find documents to explain the decision the College made to place the gifts in the WCAL endowment.
In his letter to the Court, St. Olaf attorney Michael Cunningham of Gray Plant Mooty, basically "dis-invites" the other parties (the Minnesota Attorney General and the US Bank National Association, the trustee for one of the estates in question) by writing at the end of his cover letter:
"The hearing on the Petition is scheduled for Tuesday, January 16, 207 at 2:15 p.m. in Rice County District Court. You may, but are not required, to appear. [Emphasis added by SaveWCAL]"
It appears the St. Olaf is not interested in having anyone else interested in this matter.
It also appears that the Minnesota Attorney General (AG) is the exclusive representative of the donors under the statute. The Attorney General has filed a response which is narrow in scope and in which the AG raises some technical objections to the petition.
Some individual WCAL donors have already written to the Attorney General requesting the AG broaden the scope of the response as the statutory representative of the donors. Additional requests will draw the AG's attention to this issue.
One argument that the Attorney General has been urged to make is that the broadcast license was an asset of the WCAL charitable trust and therefore the proceeds from the sale of the license are now an asset of the trust and should be used to accomplish the intention of the donors.
Contact about this petition should be directed to the AG's office, NOT to the court. Donors are allowed to contact the Attorney General to ask for further investigation by submitting a complaint form or a letter. The direct link for a PDF version of the AG's Nonprofit / Charitable Complaint Form is at:
http://www.ag.state.mn.us/ElectronicForms/CharitiesComplaintForm.pdf
Letters can be submitted to:
Ann Kinsella, Esq.
Deputy Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
State of Minnesota
445 Minnesota Street Suite 1200
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
At this time, the orignal hearing date has been postponed and a public hearing on this petition scheduled for Thursday, March 8 at 1:30 p.m. at the Rice County Courthouse in Faribault, MN. The Attorney General should be speaking on behalf of the donors. SaveWCAL strongly encourages individuals to show their interest by their presence.
UPDATE:
On March 6, 2007, just seven days after SaveWCAL attorney Michael McNabb sent his Letter Memorandum to the Rice County District Court, St. Olaf College suddenly submitted an Amended Petition that completely removed St. Olaf's previous assertions of the WCAL charitable trust funds as a "charitable trust". Also removed was one exhibit previously submitted by St. Olaf after an heir of the donor notified the Attorney General and Court that what St. Olaf had presented in its Petition was not the wishes of the donor.
Further information on developments can be found in the Rice County District Court topic.
