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,
On March 6, 2007, just seven days after Michael McNabb sent his Letter Memorandum to the Rice County District Court, St. Olaf College suddenly submitted an Amended Petition [PDF, 35 pages (minus Norberg Trust exhibit)] that completely removes St. Olaf's previous assertions of the WCAL charitable trust funds as a "charitable trust" as well as some exhibits previously submitted by St. Olaf after the trustee(s) of the estate(s) involved notified the Attorney General and Court that what St. Olaf had presented in its Petition was not the wishes of the trustee(s) of those estate(s).
As St. Olaf College Treasurer Alan Norton and St. Olaf attorney Michael Cunningham signed both Petitions under oath, which one is the truth? St. Olaf College, it seems, feels that it has the right to call the WCAL charitable trust a "charitable trust" when it is to St. Olaf's advantage — but to strip a trust of that name when it will be to their disadvantage… Unfortunately, that's not how the law works.
While St. Olaf managed to respond to McNabb's Letter Brief in seven days, it should be noted that St. Olaf College waited until April 11, 2007, (less than 48 hours before what St. Olaf anticipated would be the final session of the hearing) to file their memorandum/support for their Petition.
UPDATE: Further information on developments can be found in the Rice County category.
