On December 28, 2006, St. Olaf College filed a Petition in Rice County 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.
On February 27, 2007, SaveWCAL attorney Michael McNabb sent a Letter Memorandum [PDF, 5 pages] to the Rice
County District Court to inform the Court of issues related to the Petition filed by St. Olaf College. In the Letter Memorandum, McNabb states:
"A thorough investigation will reveal that the court has the facts and the law to declare that the assignment of the license for 89.3 FM to MPR is void on the grounds that (1) it was a breach of its fiduciary duty as trustee for St. Olaf to create the circumstances which rendered it impossible to honor the intention of the donors and (2) St. Olaf failed to obtain the authorization of the court to terminate the charitable trust as required under Minn. Stat. 501B.41 subd. 2 and therefore St. Olaf did not have the lawful authority to assign or sell the assets of the WCAL charitable trust. In the alternative, the court could declare that the WCAL endowment fund (all $2.9 million) and the $10.5 million received from MPR constitute part of a continuing charitable trust and that pursuant to Minn. Stat. 501B.31 subd. 2 the trust must be administered to accomplish as nearly as possible the intention of the donors. "
UPDATE:
On March 6, 2007, just seven days after McNabb sent his Letter Memorandum to the Rice County District Court, St. Olaf College suddenly submitted an Amended Petition which 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 tag.
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Wow, I didn't realize that this was still going on. Kudos to you folks for taking on the bohemoths that sacked WCAL. So, what are the potential positive outcomes if St. Olaf is found to be an asset raider who breached fiduciary responsibilities? It seems unlikely the Current could be forced back and turned into WCAL again, but is that possible?
I did not realize you people were still in business – I congratulate you for your tenacity. I had not heard anything since the closing.
At the time of the closing, I commented to a number of people that I would love to see the WCAL endowment/giving documents because I thought that there was a high probability that St. Olaf had breached their fiduciary responsibility with regard to endowment and/or designated gift donors to the station – however, keep in mind I have no first hand knowledge.
I am interested in your ultimate goal – is it to purify the transaction or is it possible to create from endowment funds and other supporter donations the wear with all to create a new "WCAL" – I hate to see Kling/MPR without a competitor.